Chapter 12: Everything You Don’t Know

What are the streets of Rossanetti like? Well-lit concrete blocks, facades with garish colors—reds and pinks that almost hurt the eyes—drunks and dirty old men stationed on every corner, and endless signs that shamelessly advertise the promiscuity of the area.

Many call it the satellite city of Anesse. A city within a city.

Its neighborhoods are divided into four sectors: luxury dominates in “Audry's Peaks,” full of ostentation and women in dresses as expensive as they are skimpy.

The slums of “Stone Path” are the meeting point for venereal diseases.

The cultural and political sector, “Bohemia Palace,” is popular for its cafes, theaters, and bookstores with an unbearable smell of arrogance and graffiti tags.

And finally, “Alba Avenue,” named after the neighborhood's main avenue, where the apartment buildings—or vertical ghettos, as some call them—hotels and motels are located.

In this last area stood the Hotel Bellafonte, a twelve-story block whose upper levels, where we were staying, were now destroyed.

Behind the hotel, half a block from the intersection of Alba Avenue and January 15th Street, there I was: half dead, blood in my mouth, lying on a car destroyed by my fall… alongside Joren, a terrorist probably on the government's blacklist.

“Agh…” I groaned, trying to move.

I managed to turn my body with effort until I ended up on the hood.

Joren had gotten the worst of it. She tried to reduce the fall distance, but couldn't overcome my momentum and ended up beneath me, absorbing the impact.

“Don't… move,” she said weakly and breathlessly. “It's not… over… yet.”

Everything hurt. I had the feeling I was missing teeth. Is this what it feels like to be the living dead?

“I have to… call Amélie,” I mumbled.

We were outside the isolated space that Joren had created, so I should be able to contact her… or any other Line Corrector.

I began searching for my phone. It was complicated getting my hand into my pocket only to find nothing. It might have fallen out of my pants during the fall.

Shit.

I had to get up to look for it. I tried to turn my body to land on my feet when getting down from the hood, but… I ended up sitting with my back against the wheel. My legs gave out.

With my vision somewhat blurred, I tried to track down the phone on the sidewalk… looking around the back of the hotel and that “street” January 15th, more of an alley where cars parked and garbage containers piled up. The stench wasn't pleasant… though the blood covering my nose masked it a bit.

“Ien, whe… where are you?” Head down, I kept my gaze lost on the ground.

I felt so beaten up that I couldn't find the strength to get up.

Rambling, I remembered old times… If you think about it, for me it's been a few days, but for the world it was more than a century. It's curious how time doesn't wait for you; no one even stops to remember you exist. Did they mourn my absence? My mother must have died during the attack… my father and my brother… another story not worth thinking about.

I miss my grandfather… and now I miss my mother. If I was going to die so soon, I should have gone with them. I hope there's something on the other side, at least so I don't feel so alone.

Ien… you still occupy a place in my head… what they did to my brain really worked. I can't hate you… you're a stranger, but I still want to be by your side.

Ah, that would be wonderful… to die on your thighs, while you stroke my hair and say everything will be alright…

BEEP BEEP

A vibration snapped me out of the trance. That sound… more than recognizable.

“It's coming… from over here…” I murmured.

Bzzz

It was close actually… to my left. That's where the sound is coming from. I tried to push myself up, but only rolled sideways enough to see under the hood.

In front of the wheel, lay my phone, glowing in the darkness.

This generation's phones are just a card that projects a screen above or over it. The company ones were also water and impact resistant, perfect for a mercenary.

“Answer…” it was hard to say, but it was enough for the phone to recognize me.

From the angle I couldn't see the name and I didn't care, I just needed help.

“Hello… who…”

“You answered!” said a male voice on the other end of the line. “And I thought I had lost you.”

I didn't recognize the voice…

“Who… are you?”

“It's me, it's me. Ha, ha. Cousin, don't you remember me? I'm in a bind, can you send me money?” I think there was a clown on the other end. “It's a little joke. Always check the number before answering. You never know who's on the other side.”

I lifted my head to see the holoscreen. It was somewhat complicated, but I could make out the name…

“Amélie…” Unable to process the meaning, I whispered. “You're not…”

“Of course I'm not. Do you know why I can be her? Because she… is dead.”

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“Ah…? Agh… Gah!”

A kick lifted me from the ground several meters from the car. I ended up face up, with my face full of dust.

“This… is for what you did to me, bastard.” It was Joren.

She had gotten up while I was on the phone. Her eyes were half-closed… she was standing, but didn't seem as hurt as I was. The fall should have affected her… in fact it had… however, she was standing, charged with fury.

July 17, 1325 – 09:46 PM - First jump

“Aagh… Ugh… Aaaah… It's happening… again…”

“Does it hurt? It hurts us more. You're government dogs. Our identity is Anesse. No matter how hard you try, you won't stop us. Anesse is our homeland!”

She was furious. Her words were heavy as anvils. Her voice hurt as much as the wound she had left me. I couldn't move. Or speak. My mouth was a red spring of blood.

“Your stone will be put to better use in our hands, 1-link bearer.”

“No… no… Ien… Amélie… where… are they?”

My stone still hadn't begun to fill with energy. Ien wasn't activating her ability yet and Amélie… I don't even know what happened to her.

“If you're worried about the blonde, she's on the eleventh floor,” it was him again, but no longer from the phone. “As for Amélie, I think you should know that we have an intimate relationship. She's a very interesting woman, you know?”

A pair of feet planted themselves under my head. Above me, a young man with a black mask with an X over one eye and a line where the mouth should be. He had short black hair.

He seemed familiar.

“Hello~” he raised a hand in a gesture of courtesy.

My stomach tightened when I saw what he had hanging from his waist.

“Ah… Ggh…” my heart hammered at my temples. “You… that… that is…”

“This?” he smiled under the mask. “She's my new girlfriend. Her name is Amélie. Isn't she beautiful?”

Hanging from a rope at his waist was Amélie's head.

I don't… know what face I made… I don't know… It was swollen from the beatings, bleeding… but seeing… there…

“Ug-blug…”

I didn't vomit only because I hadn't eaten all day.

Why? Her eyes… lacked life; her mouth open… her hair was still neat and she wore such elegant and simple makeup… How pale…

“Ame… Amélie…” it was less than a mumble. “Agh!”

The guy with the X mask kicked me in the abdomen.

“Hey, hey. Never stare at a girl with those eyes… especially with her boyfriend right beside her,” what outrageous cynicism. “I'm a jealous type.”

“Nesty, cut the chatter.” Joren approached me, walking as if she hadn't fallen from eleven floors. “I am inclined to remain and inflict the most severe punishment on him, buuuut…”

“Yeahhh, we're attracting too much attention. Though you speak with too much arrogance. I remind you I've used two of my bullets on you.”

“And how many have you used on yourself? I don't believe you came out unscathed from the girl upstairs.”

“Who knows… but before finishing him off, let's let him say goodbye. Don't you want to say goodbye to your friend, 1-link bearer? And, by the way, seriously… I doubt… that the bearer of the 10-link stone will save you… She's dead. Very dead. Dead like Amélie. Dead like your other friend. Do you hear me?”

Did he say “she"?

It doesn't matter. Everything lacks meaning. When that happens, it's better to laugh…

“Heh… heh… heh…” every breath of air hurt me. “Dead? No… she's not…”

A mixture of desperation and disgust flooded me. Just… let this end… please.

“Mmm… well… if you don't believe me, ask Amélie. She'll be delighted to tell you.”

The sicko brought Amélie's head close to my face, face to face. God… it was horrifying. She was stiff and icy. I had never seen pupils that had lost their light… they were dilated and it felt so real… I had never perceived death up close.

I was trembling all over, it wasn't cold that night and still, I was freezing.

“You have a beautiful lady in front of you, it's bad manners to keep her waiting. Where is Ien? Come on, you have my girlfriend in front of you. Ask her. Or perhaps you would like to give her a kiss?

“No… ah… gu… ahg… ah… no… no… oh… blug… agh… uhg… ahg” I wasn't able to pronounce a coherent word. “Ah… Aaaaagh…”

That was all…

“Hey, we were having a chat, why did you kill him?” Nesty complained to his companion.

…my chest had been pierced…

“First, too many have already died chasing a single target… and he was about to survive… some part of me said it had to end now. Second… you disgust me. Get that… head out of my sight, you fucking lunatic. You're worse than that crazy Aide.”

…I feel it's almost a relief…

“Mmm… it's all a matter of taste. I think girls are pretty, even you. Even though it's just a head, it has a beautiful face. Look at her, she's definitely worthy of a museum,” he gave her an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

…a life without regrets was something…

“Shut up!” Joren yelled at Nesty. “S-seriously get that thing away from me.”

…something I didn't deserve to aspire to.

“Come on, she's just a girl,” Nesty began to play in an insinuating, disgusting and sick manner with Amélie's remains just to bother Joren. “Look, let's give her a haircut. Touch her skin.”

My last thoughts drifted away from reality. From a Dantesque scene that I couldn't believe I was living through. From a lack of empathy and contempt for life that bordered on demonic and broke with all sanity…

I breathed one last time.

My perspective expanded. It was death that was embracing me.

I left my body like a lost soul, rising above everyone.

I observed my existence and that of that pair of monsters when everything began to change.

Everything compressed into a single central point.

What I saw transformed from a flat surface into a volumetric construction that gave the impression of a tunnel…

My sense of touch faded. The suffering vanished. Only this incomprehensible and ethereal vision remained. And I… was being led toward the end of the tunnel…

…

…

“Mmm…”

…

I opened my eyes.

“Eh?” A white ceiling, dim light filtering through the curtains, a smell of air freshener and… soft background music. “It's almost… déjà vu.”

“What?” a female voice answered me. “Robin, you're awake. How do you feel?”

“Ien…” I said upon seeing the blonde girl beside me, wearing a white coat and a smile. “Where am I?”

“In the base's room. I was scared about yesterday.”

“Yesterday? Right…” I sat up suddenly, but my head hurt.

I instinctively brought my hand to my chest, where I remembered the stabbing pain. Nothing. No wound, no blood. The memory of the masked woman piercing my flesh felt so real that I had to look at my hands to make sure they weren't trembling.

“How did the terrorists end up?”

Ien. Ha… ha… I couldn't believe she was alive. I was saved by her once again.

“Ah. Wait, don't talk too much since they beat you up pretty good,” Ien approached me, caressing my forehead tenderly. “Looks like you had a nightmare.”

“It certainly was. But… in the end you rescued me,” I felt I could finally smile, however I was worried about Amélie's condition. “And Amélie? What happened to her?”

Amélie. The name brought me an image I'd prefer to erase… that abomination…

“Ahm… I don't think Captain Erion did anything to her.”

For a second, I expected to see horror in Ien's eyes. I expected her to tell me that Amélie was dead, dismembered by a psychopath. But her expression was completely normal. As if nothing had happened. As if that nightmare had been exactly that…

Although, a doubt assailed me.

“Captain Erion? Who is that?”

“Hey, I left everything highlighted for you, didn't you even read his name? You're such an idiot. Don't even think of doing the same thing to him as yesterday or you'll be worse off.”

Yesterday?

“Sorry, tell me you didn't say what I think you said.”

Ien was in a chair near me, she had an apple that she was biting into.

“Well, that. Don't mess with Captain Erion.”

“Which day is today, Ien?”

“Today is July 17th, why?”

Again I felt a chill run through my body. But my stone shouldn't have had energy…

A bad omen…

July 17, 1325 – 06:39 AM - Second jump