Chapter Text
I wasn’t sure how I got here.
Everywhere I looked there was a never ending whiteness.
Was I dead?
Last thing I remember was confronting the Skullgirl, then nothing.
“Carol.” I flinched despite myself, despite the fact that was my name. Not Subject 0-84, not Painwheel, Carol.
I slowly turned around to see a man in a butterfly mask.
“Who… are you?”
“I am Philemon, a dweller in the rift between consciousness and unconsciousness of all souls.” He bowed slightly. “I am here to offer you a deal.”
My guard immediately went up. “What sort of deal?”
“A great pain ails your heart. I cannot completely erase your burden, but I can give you the power to alleviate it.”
“And in exchange?”
“All I will ask of you is to rebel, to break the chains that ensnare your heart and with it, free my world.”
I tilted my head. “So you are saying… I need to gain my freedom… and somehow gain it for your world?”
The man nodded.
That didn’t sound too bad. I already strived for freedom from Lab Zero.
“...What’s the catch?”
“The catch is that the position you will be taking has been walked once before, and you must overcome the previous guest.”
So, more fighting. But now I had a better shot at freedom.
He held out his hand and I hesitantly took it. We shook.
“Thank you, Carol.”
With that, my vision started to fade. As I fell into darkness, the thought “did I make a mistake?” circled in my mind.
***
I awoke suddenly, startled by the jolting of the train.
Memories that didn’t feel quite right filled my head. Being arrested for defending a woman. Being shipped off to Tokyo heartlessly.
Painwheel shuttered with rage.
I looked at the slight reflection given by the window. No mask covered my face but scars marred it where the leather mask was sewn on. Upon feeling my back, I found the port for Buer Drive was still there. But I wasn’t in any pain at all and my head felt clearer than it’s ever been. The mind control apparatus must have been removed.
Was this part of the deal?
The train reached its destination and I stepped off, taking a second to take in my surroundings. So this was Philemon’s world. It seems a lot less chaotic than New Meridian.
I slowly made my way to my new residence. Along the way, a weird app popped up but I paid it no mind.
I entered LeBlanc, where my guardian was supposed to be.
I walked up to the main at the counter, timidly asking, “Excuse me, but are you Sojiro Sakura?”
He looked up from his crossword. “Oh right, they said it was today.” He put his magazine aside. “So you’re Carol. I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you’re the one, huh? I wasn’t expecting someone so… Anyway follow me.”
Sojiro led me upstairs to the attic. “This is your room. I’ll at least give you sheets for your bed.” He turned around. “Hm? You look like you wanna say something.”
“Thank you for taking me in.” I smiled earnestly.
He seemed honestly surprised. “Well, I’ll be leaving after I lock up each day. You’ll be alone at night, but don’t do anything stupid. I’ll throw you out if you cause any trouble.”
I quietly nodded.
“We’ll go to Shujin tomorrow so be prepared for that.” I nodded again and he left.
As I cleaned up the attic-space, I wondered about the deal I made. Other than my arrest and probation, everything seemed peaceful. It wouldn’t be the same as back home, but I could lead a regular life here.
But Philemon had specifically asked me to rebel, though against what exactly?
I shook my head. I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
I fell asleep optimistic.
That optimism faded when I woke up in a prison cell, chained up like an animal.
I heard a laugh and I turned to see two girls dressed up in warden costumes. Behind them sat a man with an absurdly long nose.
***
I pondered Igor’s words as I got ready. He’s phrasing mirrored Philemon’s. I sighed. I guess a regular life was too much to ask for, though I should have expected as much.
The visit to Shujin went as well as expected, with warnings being repeated. I didn’t miss how my homeroom teacher stared at my scars.
And before I knew it, it was the next day.
I was about midway through my trip to school when it started raining. I ducked under an awning to wait out the worst of the downpour.
Another person joined me under the awning. I fiddled with my uniform, glancing at her out of the corner of my eye and wondering if I should strike up a conversation with her.
Then a car pulled up. The window slid down to reveal an older man with curly hair. His eyes flickered towards me, harboring a faintly disguised disgust, before turning back toward the other girl.
“Good morning. Want me to give you a ride to school? You’re going to be late.”
“Um, sure! Thank you.” To my surprise, she climbed into the stranger’s car.
“Do you need a lift too?” I knew he was only saying that to be polite. Painwheel growled inside my mind to not let him take her, to not let the same thing that happened to me happen to another person.
Resisting the urge as best as I could, I shook my head. As they drove away, Painwheel screamed at me to go after them, even though I was memorising the license plate. Not that I could catch up to them in my current state.
Running footsteps sounded out to my right and a blonde student slid to a stop just on the left edge of the awning. “Damn that pervy teacher.”
I blinked, wondering if I heard him correctly.
He turned around, eyes temporarily widening before hardening into a scowl. “...What do you want? ‘You planning on ratting me out to Kamoshida?”
My grip on my bag tightened. “...I don’t know a Kamoshida.”
His glare softened. “Huh? In that car just now. It was Kamoshida.”
That didn’t calm Painwheel down at all.
“He does whatever the hell he wants. Who does he think he is- the king of a castle? Don’t you agree?”
Painwheel agreed, but I said, “I’m afraid I don’t know him well enough to have an opinion.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? Do you not have PE?”
“I’m a transfer student. Today’s my first day.” I looked at his uniform. “You go to Shujin too?”
“So that’s why I haven’t seen you around here. I would have remembered someone with-” He looked away. “Sorry. Yes, I go to Shujin. Anyway this rain ain’t too bad. We better hurry up, or we’ll be late.”
He turned around and suddenly I got light headed. The student murmured something along the same lines and began walking.
I quietly followed, zoning out.
Something sounded behind me and Painwheel’s instincts kicked in. Gae Bolga’s spikes ripped out from underneath my fingernails as I spun around to meet… nothing.
I sighed, willing the spikes to return and glanced behind me. good , he didn’t seem to notice. I glanced back at my hand. At least I still had my healing factor and Gae Bolga if I ever needed to defend myself, and thankfully Gae Bolga hurt a lot less to use.
“Wha-?”
I ran up to my fellow student’s side and saw… a castle? Judging from his reaction, this was not normal in this world.
“We didn’t come the wrong way though… Yeah, this should be right. What’s going on here? I guess we’ll have to go and ask.” Having no better ideas, I followed him.
We entered a huge entrance hall.
“Hey, the sign was for the school, right?”
“I’m pretty sure.”
Another sound rang out and Gae Bolga’s spears unsheathed themselves again. This time it wasn’t nothing.
A knight with heavy armor approached us. All of Painwheel’s instincts screamed “Danger!”
“Geez, you freaked me out!” My fellow student stepped towards the knight. “Who’re you? You a student? Man, your costume’s impressive. Is that armor real?”
I hid my claws behind my back. “I think we should leave.”
“Nah, it has to be some sort of prank.”
More knights came out of the shadows.
“I don’t think it’s a prank.”
That’s when one of them shoved him to the ground. “Hey, what are you-!” The sound of the spear cracking against his skull caused me to cringe.
The knights swarmed me. I managed to dodge a few swings but soon I too got knocked out cold.
I awoke with adrenaline still blazing through my veins.
I shot up, giving my surroundings a quick once over. A prison cell, one quite unlike the one in the Velvet Room. At least I wasn’t chained up.
Spotting my fellow student, I rushed to his side and began to shake him awake.
“Mom, you don’t need to-” He opened his eyes and I could practically see the memories returning to him.
He sat up. “Shit, so it wasn’t a dream.”
A blood curdling scream sounded out outside our cell.
Both of us ran to the bars.
“Th-the hell was that just now?”
Desperate cries of help echoed on the stone walls.
“Whoa… whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re shitting me right? We need to get out of here!” He ran to the back of the cell and began combing the walls.
I clutched the bars and I still possessed even a fraction of my enhanced strength. I began to tug at the bars. The metal creaked and groaned and slowly began to bend, but it was ultimately pointless. I wouldn’t be able to create a hole big enough to pass through in time.
I banged my fist against the bars. Never before would I have ever imagined that I would want to be Painwheel. Painwheel would have been able to tear the door off its hinges no problem. Helplessness clawed at my heart.
“What is all that racket?” A legion of knights marched up to our cell. “No matter, be glad that your punishment has been decided upon. Your charge is “unlawful entry”. Thus, you will be sentenced to death.”
“Say what?”
“No one’s allowed to do as they please in my castle.” A man wearing only a cloak and a speedo walked up to the cell.
My fellow student's eyes went wide. “Huh? Wait… Is that you, Kamoshida?”
The man snorted. “I thought it was some petty thief but to think it’d be you, Sakamoto. Are you trying to disobey me again? It looks like you haven’t learned your lesson at all, huh? And you brought a friend…” His yellow eyes fixated on me. “Disgusting. I heard you had some serious scarring, but I didn’t know you were so hideous.”
I didn’t know what was worse. The overwhelming shame threatening to drown me or Painwheel’s uncontrollable rage.
“Hey! Leave her out of it!” Sakamoto shouted.
“Oh, raising your voice? Sounds like you’re just dying to be executed.” One of the knights shoved open the cell door and Kamoshida and them piled into the cell.
I was barely able to prevent Painwheel from pouncing upon Kamoshida, so I couldn’t run when Sakamoto managed to knock down one of the knights and yelled at me to book it.
“Just go! Get outta here! These guys are serious!”
“Oh? Running away, are we? What a heartless friend you are. Not that I expected much.” Kamoshida grinned.
“She ain’t a friend… Come on, hurry up and go!”
“What’s the matter? Too scared to run away? Hmph, pathetic scum isn’t worth my time..”
I was trembling with Painwheel’s rage by that time, but I couldn’t do anything, not as Kamoshida beat Sakamoto. Not as Kamoshida spat petty insults at him. Not as the knights prepared to separate his head from his neck.
Hot tears poured down my face.
A blue butterfly fluttered in front of me. “This is truly an unjust game… Your chances of winning are almost none. But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you…”
Why are you resisting your rage?
I gasped. The voice that rang out through my head was rough and hoarse, like Painwheel’s. It was like Painwheel herself was talking to me.
Your anger is righteous. Justified. Embrace it.
I shook my head.
Painwheel is part of you. You can’t deny it. The scared little girl and the monster are one and the same. But the monster doesn’t have to be a monster anymore.
I understood.
Let us forge a contract. I am thou, thou art I. Thou shall smite all who think they have escaped judgement. Show them the vengeance of the ill and forgotten, for your rampage shall not be stopped by no one of heaven, earth, or hell!
It hurt. It hurt a lot. But the pain was nothing compared to what I’ve been through.
“Execute him!”
“That’s enough!”
A moment of silence passed through the cell as they all looked back at me. “What was that?” Sakamoto was dropped to the ground.
Kamoshida turned towards me. “You desire to be killed that much? Fine!”
The knight next to me slammed its shield into the side of my head yet still I stood.
It tried to bring its sword down upon me, but I knocked it out of the knights hands.
I could feel it; the familiar suffocating feeling of that leather mask. I dug my fingers into it and released the scream that had built up for Trinity knows how long.
“ Tear them apart, Praxidice! ”
I ripped off the mask and power far greater than what Hatred Install had to offer tore through my system.
Beside me in the blue flames stood a towering figure cloaked in tan robes and wearing a gas mask. One hand was a gigantic mechanical claw whose blades looked faintly like those of Buer Drive. In the other, she held a set of scales.
“G-guards!”
They were torn to shreds before they could put up a fight.
I was on top of Kamoshida in seconds. Dangling him in the air via his throat, Gae Bolga’s spears burst out of my skin. Just as I was about to drive them through his skull, Praxidice’s voice stopped me.
Carol, the boy.
I glanced over my shoulder and in between Buer Drive’s blades to see Sakamoto’s terrified expression. Awareness of the situation hit me like a freight train.
Throwing Kamoshida to the ground, I grabbed Sakamoto’s arm and dragged him out of the cell. I momentarily let go to twist the metal lock around the bars of the cell, ensuring that Kamoshida won’t get out anytime soon. He seemed too shaken up to do anything though.
“What the hell?” Sakamoto cried out while looking at me. I didn’t need to see Buer Drive or feel its grimly familiar weight to know that he was seeing Painwheel.
In a flash of blue flame, I felt Buer Drive’s weight disappear. I grasped my arm uncomfortably, eyes averting themselves from his gaze. “W-we should get out of here.”
“Yeah.” He nodded, eyes still wide.