16 Chapter 15

(Six Months Pass)

Exhaustion held my body captive; yet, sleep didn't answer me. I tried everything to find a way to sleep, but nothing aided me. I tried once more to calm my mind only to have the memory of my dagger entering Hue's chest.

Things weren't clear that day. I remember throwing my dagger into Hue's chest, and he falls to the ground, but after that, everything was blank. I tried and tried to place the pieces of the puzzle together only to find that I didn't have the pieces there, to begin with.

Nekko discovered that when the devil, Jezebel, cut me, she had infected me with a small amount of poison. The poison caused my behavior to turned aggressive and dark. My sister eventually subdued me, and I ended at my family's castle.

And here is where I have been for the past six months on suspension and getting very little sleep. The healer said that it is a side effect of the poison. They said that it will take a few months for it to clear fully out of my body.

I have wondered if how I felt that day and how I treated Hue was because of the poison. Nekko tried to comfort me as best she could; honestly, I wanted to be alone and wallow in my self-pity and hatred. Nekko also said that this was another side effect.

Now, I was informed that June Mimiku was a nine-tailed kitsune and in the custody of the Seventh State. Nekko was far stronger than me at this point. She would act chipper and have a smile, but her fur had lost its shine.

"Poor girl," I whispered into the darkness.

My sister had taken Hue away to a disclosed location. I pestered her about Hue and Mimiku, but she held her tongue and put me in my place, forcefully. I hated my older sister for that.

I sat up in my bed, agitated. I found a robe and decided that a walk may help me either take my mind off things or that it will help me on my way to sleep.

Out the door and down the long hallway. The castle was relatively empty tonight. The silence was welcoming to my mood.

"Emma?"

I spun around. Nekko appeared.

"I know, I should be bed rest in my room, but I'm cooped up. Plus, I can't sleep," I complain to Nekko.

Nekko walked up to me and gave a soft, sympathetic smile. She wrapped an arm around one of mine.

"Let's go to the healing pool and see if we can help you get some sleep," She offered.

Nekko lead me to the secluded pool, lit only by the full moon. I disrobed completely, folding my clothes, and stepping into the pool. I gasped as the water was far colder than I expected it to be.

"Nekko," I shivered.

"Already on it."

Nekko flicked a finger up, producing a small tear-drop flame. Flicking her finger down, the fire splashed into the water turning the pool's water from blue to orange, red, and yellow. Warmth smoothed out my goosebumps.

I relaxed my head on the poolside with Nekko combing through my hair with a brush.

"Do you think that the poison caused me to attack Hue?" I shot out.

"I don't know, master. It's possible. All we know is that the poison amplified your emotions. You felt betrayed by Hue, and you attacked him," Nekko responded softly.

"I was so mad at him."

"I know, master."

I tilted my head backward.

"How are you with knowing that Mimiku is a nine-tailed fox?"

Nekko stopped brushing my hair.

"She's not a bad being. Yes, a nine-tail, and a fox of the chaos, but she would never, deliberately, hurt someone," Nekko replied.

Her ears drooped, and the smile she held vanished. I dropped my head thinking about Hue in the same manner as Nekko thought of Mimiku.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"Hope that when the time comes," Nekko paused.

"If the time comes, hope that they will forgive us," Nekko replied.

"Emma."

The voice was cold and direct. I lowered my body into the water, and Nekko stood, bowing her torso ninety degrees. My older sister approached.

"You are needed. Get dressed," she ordered.

"What's going on?" I asked, receiving a towel from Nekko when she came out of the pool.

"We need you to interrogate the necromancer. We have discovered that part of his mind is locked. We're hoping that with you there, it's the key to unlocking it," she answered.

"And you will be wearing the family robes."

With that, my sister was gone, disappearing into the darkness.

"You get to see Hue?" Nekko piped up.

"Apparently," I replied.

That family robe was a white kimono with a sleeveless light blue jacket over it with the family's crest on the back. You were to wear your given mask as well. I looked myself over in the mirror, took a breath, letting it out, before I covered my face.

~~~~~~~~~~

This place was called the Five Hells. Located on a small island, this facility housed the most dangerous criminals that Pangea had. The structure was shaped into a star with the points of the star working as the multi-leveled jail cell blacks and was located on a small desolated island off the coast.

Once you were in, the chances of getting out were nonexistent. I have heard that the living conditions here were brutal, sanctioned, but brutal. The average life expectancy here was three years if you didn't commit suicide or if another inmate didn't kill you.

"Are you going to be okay?" Nekko asked me.

"Hue has been in there for the past six months because of me," I said.

I looked over at Nekko.

"What do you think?"

Nekko flattened her ears.

"Let's get this over with," I grumbled, heading for the entrance.

We were met by two white armored guards. They searched us and took away most of the weapons that they could find. We were then briefed that we were only guests here and to respect the rules and authorities here.

The interior of the compound was pure white with jet black glyphs here and there to nullify magic. This place felt so depressing.

No wonder that the inmates committed suicide.

A guard guided us to room with a white table and three chairs. On the table was a manila folder with a prison number on it. Nekko and I sat on the side of the table with the two chairs. Opening the folder, there was a current picture of Hue.

He was thinner, whiter, his face was bruised and held week old cuts all over.

Upon reading the contents of the folder; that I didn't already know, Hue had been beaten several times from other inmates, "roughed" up by interrogators, and…

I re-read the next part a few times:

'Necromancer, Eugene Dupeux, has tried to commit suicide twice in the last month.'

After the last attempt, Hue was placed under twenty-four-hour surveillance and moved to a padded cell.

The door slammed open. Two guards entered escorting a tied-up Hue. His hands were bound in front and covered, and his feet had a four-inch chain that was attached to a cuff to either foot. Even his mouth was covered with a breathable cover.

Hue was sat on the opposite side; his eyes so dull they could be mistaken for grey. His stare was cold and beaten.

The guards left us to the awkward silence.

Twenty minutes went by with no one saying a word.

"What brings you to my neck of the woods? Your older sister can't get father inside my head, so they bring you," Hue spoke with a hoarse voice.

"I um."

"What's the matter? Necro's got your tongue?" he chuckled.

His tone was anything but dark.

I was scared to speak.

"Yes," Nekko spoke up.

Hue's eyes lazily rolled over to Nekko.

"There's a part that you are keeping from us, and we are here to retrieve it," she said.

"Oh, that little bit," Hue made himself more comfortable.

"They wanted to know how to kill a necro," he began, "I told them the same thing that I am going to tell you."

I could hear his lips curling.

"You can't know it unless you allow me to use my powers," Hue answered.

"You're lying," I now spoke.

"Your sister said the same thing and then started to try and beat the information out of me."

He didn't need to see me to know I was biting my lip.

"Thumb through those pictures of my tattoos."

I did so.

"You're looking for one that has a double head snake running out the mouth of a skull looping around and ending just above the head.

I found it and examined it.

"This tattoo protects me even when I can't. It means that to unlock my mind fully, I must speak the tongue of the Necromancer," Hue chuckled.

"If we allowed you to use your powers, would you tell us?" I asked.

"Sure."

"Would you try and escape?"

"Most defiantly."

I was going to say something, something that I possibly knew the answer too.

"Would you go to Jezebel?"

Hue looked down at the table in thought. His breathing was calm. When he looked back at me, his eyes were brilliant green, and a sickness punched my gut.

"Possibly."

"Why?" I asked, leaning forward.

"The only thing that she has done was attack me to hide. She did warn me of this." Hue's eye rolled around the room. "This would happen.

"But."

"And with all of the cooperation and the pleading and begging," Hue interrupted, "telling you people the truth. I am treated worse than the dirt on your feet."

His eyebrow pressed together, then relaxed.

"I wonder how she would accept me. Maybe better than my own kind, hm?"

"She's twisting you," Nekko interjected, trying to reason with him.

"It would be a far better fate than my current predicament," Hue tossed back.

"I was poisoned," I announced.

I was desperate.

"I was poisoned by Jezebel. That poison caused something inside me to grow," I pleaded.

"Yes, it's usually something that was already there. In your case I suppose, it was betrayal and that then the anger and hatred of what I did and what I was," Hue retorted, bored.

It didn't even phase him.

"If you want to know what's in my head, you know who to get it, and you know the consequences," Hue wrapped up.

"Let me know what you decide, or if you're anything like your sister, your decision will be that of trying to beat it out of me without prevail," Hue laughed.

"Guards!"

The two previous guards entered. Hue took one last look at the both of us.

"We're done here."

I didn't say anything, and neither did Nekko. We were left there, just sitting with our thoughts.

"I'm sorry," Nekko whispered.

She must have been smelling the salty tears behind my mask.

"Let's go," I chocked.

I sniffed a few timed before I was able to gain control, but before my nose fully cleared, I thought that I smelt sulfur. I took another sniff, and sure enough, there was sulfur.

"Nekko, do you smell that?"

Nekko put her nose into the air.

"Smell what? I don't smell anything?"

I inhaled deeply, but the foul odor vanished. Something wasn't right. Deep down, something wasn't right. I looked around me, the area, and further. Everything appeared fine.

"Master, what is it?"

"I don't know. I feel like something isn't right. I thought I smelt sulfur," I said, desperately looking for something to be wrong.

"Are you sure?"

"I think so," I whispered low.

I didn't want others to hear me if I was wrong.

What if I am wrong? Could it be another side effect of the poison?

For a split second, I thought I could see Jezebel walking to where Hue left. I blinked, and there it was just a nurse standing there.