Chapter Text
“Nothing here looks good…” With a sigh Natsuki Subaru let the door to the glass case of the drinks cooler close. In the glass a transparent reflection of himself appeared, his raven black hair pushed back in a disheveled manner, he saw the dark circles around his sharp eyes that made it look like he was constantly glaring. His tracksuit had small spots of color that stood out from various drinks and snacks that showed how long it had been since he washed it. He gave his reflection a mean look before turning from it, deciding it best to just leave with what he already had. He dropped a single cup of ramen on the counter at the cash register, and pulled a bag of chips off a small display and placed it next to it. The man behind the register barely looked up from their phone as they scanned the items and rang them up. With a scattering of yen coins on the counter Subaru took the bag that now held his late night snacks and turned for the exit. He yawned as he leaned against the door, the bell ringing as he stumbled out of the convenience store. The plastic bag full of late night snacks rustled gently next to his ear as he stretched his arms above his head, letting out another long yawn. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the dark outside the store.
“Guess that’s what happens when you stay up so late…” Subaru spoke out loud to no one in particular. After a moment he started off down the street, sliding his hands into the pockets of his tracksuit, letting the bag hang out at his hip. His eyes stayed attached to the sidewalk, counting the joints and cracks as he went.
Another wave of tiredness washed over him, sending him into another deep yawn as he went. He buried his eyes into his forearm and attempted to rub the tiredness from them.
“Maybe I should just head straight to bed, not like I bought something that’ll melt…” His voice trailed off with a yawn as he spoke, and after a moment his eyes widened in alarm.
“Uh, What?”
The world around seemed to have changed, the sidewalk he stood on was replaced with a brown stone platform carved in strange circular patterns. At the edges statues of spiked serpents twisting around each other rose from the ground. A black blanket stretched out infinitely around him, the only source of light was a giant ball in the sky above him. He had to stare at that ball in the sky for a while before he understood what it was, The Moon. It was only a moment after he realized that it was the moon that he realized there was a face carved into it, four eyes, a large triangular nose and a scarred looking mouth. It seemed to stare down at him, an unbearable oppressive weight pushing down on his shoulders.
“Ah, there you are.” A monotonous voice spoke out causing Subaru to jump dramatically.
“Who— What the hell!?” Subaru’s voice cracked as he screamed, he held the plastic bag in front of him in a protective stance.
The strangeness didn’t end with the void or the face in the moon, in front of him stood a man who he hadn’t noticed until he spoke. The man’s clothing consisted of a renaissance style green dress with green lace collars and lace around the wrist. His hat was also green, styled after a medieval jester with three sleeves protruding from the top, the middle one ended in a curl. His face was— no his skin was colored strangely, the left side of his body was a magenta color, and the right side was purple. His face held a somewhat cruel smile as he stared at Subaru from the edge of the platform.
“How nice of you to join us…” The mysterious man’s voice held nearly no emotion, save a hint of something that Subaru could not place, malice or sarcasm, or something else along those lines.
“W-where… how… where am I?” Subaru’s voice was unsteady, he wasn’t even sure if what he was seeing was real.
“Ah, your confusion is warranted I suppose. My name is Per’kele, and you find yourself summoned to The Moon Tower, basking in the beautiful green hue of the moon.” The mysterious man stretched his arms over his head displaying the jagged smile of the moon which continued to radiate an overwhelming ominous presence that caused Subaru’s legs to shake.
Subaru swallowed as he stared up at the giant moon, his mind racing with confusion and fear. He slowly let the bag he had been holding up like a weapon fall down to his side and took a deep breath to help settle his nerves. It didn’t help that much, but it was better than nothing.
He couldn’t really form a full sentence without his voice being caught in his throat, so a single “Why?” was all he could manage.
“Ah, yes well, allow me to explain the situation you are facing. To explain this once in a lifetime opportunity that has fallen within your grasp. Since our words could not possibly reach my master, The Delinquent one, Rher - The Trickster Moon God, allow me to speak on his behalf.” Per’kele gestured up to the moon again before holding his arms out as if to display either himself or the tower, Subaru wasn’t sure.
“My master has invited the 14… no, my apologies, the 15 of you to join us in this jubilee of cosmic proportions. 15 candidates, but only one true victor. The Festival of Termina is upon us!” It was safe to say that the purple-faced mans 'explanation’ did nothing to alleviate Subaru’s confusion.
“Uh, I still didn’t understand any of that really, what is The Termina Festival?” Subaru scratched the back of his head as if the ruffling of his hair would rid him of his own confusion.
“Yes, well I suppose this would be rather confusing for you, this is very sudden after all, But do not worry, I will not burden you with any more information at this very moment. Just head for ‘The Tower’, that is all you need to know for now. I will gladly answer any question once you get there.” Per’kele nodded in understanding, resting the elbow of one arm in the palm of the other as he used his hand to half hide an almost condescending smile that somewhat irked Subaru.
“Hey wait! I want you to burden me with information!” Subaru took a step towards the man under the moon who seemed to almost chuckle under his hand.
“Let us meet again under the moonlight.”
And with those final words Subaru felt a sudden exhaustion fall over him, he took a second step and attempted a third but found himself falling. As his face neared the ground all he could think about was how desperately he wanted to sleep.
Subaru woke with a start, breathing heavily as he gripped the soft velvet seat under him for support.
“Was that real?” He looked around the room hoping to see his posters, or collection of figurines, the dirty pile of clothes in the corner of his room or the junk food wrappers stuffed under his bed. Instead he was met with a very different sight, two columns of large velvet red chairs at the edges of the “room” which created an aisle down the center. The “room” was long and wooden, the walls were lined with windows that displayed a forest on either side. It was only after a moment of examining the area that he realized he wasn’t in a room at all, instead he recognized it to be the inside of a train car. He couldn’t see anyone else in any of the seats, but the train itself seemed to be stopped.
“That couldn’t have been a dream… this is all real…?” His voice almost displayed how baffled he was mentally.
He stood up slowly from his seat and stepped out into the middle of the aisle, slowly he walked to the other side of the room, checking each seat as he went. There was a strange tension in the air, as if he was somewhere he shouldn't be, it built up a paranoia that made him fear for someone or something hiding just out of his sight. He noted that the train car was messy, pamphlets of paper were tossed about and suitcases sat unattended in large piles. He bent over to read one of the pamphlets but couldn’t understand a word of what was written on it. A single image sat on the cover which looked like a somewhat realistic drawing rather than any printed image that Subaru recognized, the image of an eagle holding a swastika in its talons.
“Uh… okay…?” The image was concerning to say the least, and it put a fear in Subaru’s mind that made his head swim.
He continued on without looking back, finding what seemed to be the exit and opening the door… or at least he tried to.
“This has to be some sort of safety hazard” He said as he unsuccessfully tried to find a lock for the door. He gave it one more attempt but the door would not budge and so he gave up.
Turning around he found the door to the next car, and attempted to open it, to his surprise and relief it slid open easily.
The next car was more of the same, a long car with velvet seats, scattered papers, and unattended luggage. Except one thing stood out and startled Subaru, a lone man with distinct Japanese features stood at the end, dressed in a three piece suit with a fedora and a pair of glasses. Subaru stopped in his tracks and just watched him for a while, the man didn’t move or seem to see him so he called out.
“Hello?” His voice seemed too loud when he spoke, but the man across from him didn’t move at all.
“Uh… where uh… where are we?” Still the man across the way didn’t respond, he just stared at the ceiling without changing his posture at all.
Slowly Subaru began approaching, taking light steps until he reached halfway point, he could now see that the man was mumbling something so quiet that Subaru couldn’t even hear him in the silence of the car. His pace slowed down even more, until he was standing only a few feet away.
“H-hey man, are you okay?” Now that he was closer he could see the man's eyes were glazed over and his face was sickly pale, the sight caused Subaru to gasp lightly.
“I’m late already, so late…” The man spoke suddenly and Subaru nearly jumped out of his skin, his heart beat certainly jumped to an alarming frequency for just a moment. The well dressed man did not move at all beyond saying those words to himself over and over again, never changing pitch or tone.
Subaru looked around the car and saw that this was where the train ended, the only door left was off the side and it seemed to lead out. He quickly walked over to it, not letting the man in the suit leave his sight as he fiddled with the handle, to his relief there was no resistance and he stumbled outside, slamming the door behind him.
“...So that must be the best course of action for now—” A dry voice stopped mid sentence as Subaru clambered out of the train. The voice itself startled Subaru, but what startled him even more was the large group of people all staring at him as he turned around. They were all strangely dressed in old clothes, a hundred years out of date, the kind you would see in a textbook talking about World War 2.
“Oh. The— Wait, I don’t know who that is…” A light voice spoke from a place aside from the crowd, a young girl about Subaru’s age in a white collared blouse and an ankle length pink skirt, her hair was a dark gray and tied in curly pigtails.
“Uh… sorry for interrupting…” Subaru felt a sudden sense of stage fright as just over half a dozen people stared at him with confused expressions.
The man who was originally talking, who had pale skin and disheveled hair and wore a suit vest with checkered pants and an antiseptic eyepatch over his left eye spoke up again after a moment.
“Well, by the look of things you are just as clueless as the rest of us…” He shook his head before he pulled a single cigarette from behind his ear and lit it with a match he struck against his shoe.“The train left us all here, at the outskirts of the city.” The checkered pants man explained as he waved the match in his hand until the flame died, dropping it into the grass by his feet as plumes of smoke blew from the cig. “All the train personnel. Everyone. Gone. No explanations.”
“That… doesn’t sound great” Subaru wasn’t even sure what to say at this point, things were already weird enough so a single train out in the middle of the woods that stopped moving mysteriously wasn’t the worst thing.
“No kidding… we decided to stay and wait here for a while, someone has to come for the train sooner or later.” He puffed his cigarette again, blowing a small cloud of smoke out from the corner of his mouth.
“If you’re in no rush then I suggest just relaxing inside… or whatever makes you comfortable.” The man waved his hand in the air dismissively as he spoke.
‘This is all just more and more confusing, I was honestly expecting a little more after that whole thing with the tower but this is a bit of a let down really…’ Subaru thought to himself as everyone in the crowd shuffled around awkwardly.
“Well… maybe we could introduce ourselves?” Subaru turned his head to see a young pale girl with glasses who was kneeling in the grass holding her hand up like a student asking a question in class.
There was a moment of silence as everyone looked towards each other, waiting for someone to go first. Subaru took a step forward—
“My name is Marina.” Before he could say anything the ash haired girl with pigtails took a step forward.
“My—”
“My name is Olivia, lovely to meet you all!” The girl with the glasses spoke up after another pause, waving her hand as if to say hello to everyone.
“I’m—”
“You can call me August.” Another gentleman spoke up from right next to Subaru, his hair rust colored hair spotted with gray from old age, he was dressed nicely and his voice was deep and smooth. Subaru had given up on trying to introduce himself, deciding to let everyone else go first rather than be interrupted again.
“Karin Sauer - a journalist on duty.” A blonde woman standing next to August spoke up, brushing a strand of her blonde hair which was tied in a low hanging ponytail behind her ear. Her clothes consisted of a brown jacket over a black turtleneck and a purple skirt that hung just above a pair of boots.
‘Journalist on duty, Why is she talking like a cop?’
A tall and muscular curly haired man wearing a dark green combat jacket leaned up against one of the wheels of the train. Rather than introduce himself he simply turned his head away.
“Hey! I’m Henryk” A tall blond man dressed with a yellow suit vest and slacks who leaned against the train raised his hand casually.
“And this mystic gentleman over here is O’saa… It was O’saa, right?” He waved his other hand over an oddly dressed man in an exotic all yellow garb who sat in a meditative position. His skin and hair were both equally as dark, and when his name was spoken he did not open his eyes to respond or acknowledge the rest of the group in any way.
“Silly man. I’m pretty sure that was his name, we were the first to wake up.” Henryk shook his head and turned to the rest of the group.
The man with the checkered pants shuffled awkwardly and scratched his head nervously but didn’t say anything. After a moment of observing his nervous mannerisms the rest of the group tore their eyes away to look at Subaru.
Subaru took in a deep breath as everyone laid their eyes on him, and as he let it out he struck a pose. With one hand pointing a finger at the air, the other laid on his hip which he stuck out with an odd stance.
“My name is Natsuki Subaru, I am lost and broke beyond compare!”
…
His initial burst of confidence popped like a balloon against the painful silence that fell over the group. He slightly opened one eye to look at the reaction of the group.
Henryk let out a snort as he turned to hide his head, Karin used a hand to rub her eyes as if trying to fight off a migraine, August quirked an eyebrow at him, the man in checkered pants wouldn’t even look at him and instead it seemed like he increased his head scratching. Even O’saa seemed to be trying to hold in a laugh as he meditated, the only comfort he found was Olivia’s supportive thumbs up from the group. Marina clapped her hands together in some sort of mock applause as Subaru visibly deflated.
From the inside of the train cab a loud snort was heard, and Subaru could see a blurred face with long red hair appear in the glass for a moment, although whoever it was vanished from sight a few seconds later. No one else paid it any mind and Subaru couldn’t even bring himself to speak and embarrass himself any more.
A hand clasped him onto his shoulder and Subaru turned his head to see August holding his arm. “Well, a little levity is welcomed, it certainly helps ease the stress some of us feel about the situation.”
“Thanks but I really don’t know why I thought that was a good idea. It was just a ‘heat of the moment’ kind of thing…” Subaru rubbed the back of his neck and kept his eyes level with the ground.
“Well… to move on… we were just talking about it ” Marina interrupted the awkward silence by talking to the newcomer directly.
“Uh, what is it ?” Subaru said, recovering slightly from his embarrassment by focusing on the smaller girl.
“Come on, you saw THE dream too, right?” She and the rest of the group looked at him expectantly.
“The dream?” Subaru scratched his head. “You mean the big tower with the moon and the creepy guy with the weird face? Did you see that too?”
“Everyone had the same dream before waking up in the train! The moon, the girl in a pink dress, the Festival of Termina…” Olivia spoke up from her spot on the ground, her excitement seeming to die off some the more she spoke. “It all felt too real to pass off as just a dream…”
“Not this again.” Karin said with a frustrated sigh, sending Olivia a glare from the corner of her eye. “We should’ve asked that army pig! That Bremen pig! He was way too quick to leave, I bet he knew something!” Although Subaru couldn’t see it he could just tell that Karin’s fists were balled up in the pockets of her jacket, she moved her eternal glare into the tree line.
“This smells like a sadistic army experiment! Sounds exactly like something the Bremen army would be part of! They had similar hallucinogens experimented on war prisoners you know? Now that the war is over they have to get their guinea pigs somewhere else.” The more she spoke the rougher she sounded, angrily speaking through gritted teeth as she gave the trees a death glare.
‘Well, I guess I am living proof that theory doesn’t stand. Somehow I don’t think she’d believe me though’ Having already embarrassed himself once Subaru decided to just keep his mouth shut.
“I wish I had your capacity for conspiracies, but… I really have a hard time believing in all of them that are floating around.” The man with the eyepatch had no such hesitation, immediately interjecting and drawing her ire.
“I’m a journalist, I’ve covered wars you know!” Her teeth stayed glued together as she spoke, almost seeming to spit the words out as she spoke. “I don’t need some flaky eyepatched foreigner telling me what is and isn’t possible. You haven’t seen what I’ve seen during these past few years.” Suddenly her voice took on a more somber tone, her eyes losing their hardness as she saw something that no one else could.
“I’ve covered wars too, you know. All men and women for the past decade or two have covered wars. What’s your point again?” Although the man in the eye patch either didn’t see it or didn’t care as he let off a sarcastic sounding retort. “I’ve seen my fair share of hallucinogens as a doctor and I can tell from first hand experience that there are no known chemicals that can recreate that vividness. Especially visions that are identical with this many people.” He pulled off another puff of his cigarette and locked eyes with Karin who had shaken herself out of her dark place and returned to glaring at the doctor.
The tension between the two was palpable, if her hands weren’t shoved deep in her jacket pockets Subaru would have feared that she would punch the doctor. That being said he had to agree with him, it’s not like he hallucinated his whole life in Japan before waking up wherever or whenever he is now.
“Uh… hey let's not start anything serious here right now yeah? Let's all just relax a bit” Subaru immediately realized he had made a mistake by trying to interject, Karin’s death stare was enough to make him shrink in his tracksuit.
Instead of unleashing a tidal wave of rage on the teen Karin just took in a deep sigh.
“I take it that we’re done here? As much as I’d like it, I don’t have time to play happy campers with you people. I have a job to do, which way is the city?” The blonde rubbed her eyes as if trying to battle a headache and shook her head.
“Look, up there over the forest top, can you see the tower sticking out in the mist?” The doctor took a long puff of his cigarette and nodded his head towards the tree line.
Subaru turned where he directed, it was hard to see but by squinting and blocking half hidden sun with his hand he could just make out several tall buildings, among them was a tall tower that filled Subaru with an ominous sense of dread as his eyes landed on it. “That tower marks the center of Prehevil, you can hike through the forest to get there. It’s not very far from here.”
Subaru’s eyes lingered on the outline of the city, his seemed reluctant to the very idea of getting any closer.
“Alright then. If I see anyone I’ll let them know you guys are waiting out here.” Karin spun away from the group and lazily waved a hand over her shoulder as she walked around the train and into the forest. The doctor mumbled something under his breath as she walked away.
“What are you going to do then?” Marina was the first to speak up after Karin walked away.
“Wait here I guess, I’m in no hurry.” The doctor shrugged as he finished his cigarette, dropping it in the grass and crushing it under his heel. In the same motion he pulled another one from a pack in his pocket, lit it and began smoking again, all the while never turning away from the tower in the distance.
The group stood around for a short time, no one else really sure what to do yet.
The first to move was Marina who without a word climbed back into the train. As the door to the train shut the door to the cab opened, walking out was a tall rust haired woman in a set of heavy yellow overalls that tucked into a pair of work boots. She ran a pale, grease covered hand thoughtlessly through her long hair which was tied together with a bow at the end.
“Well, I dug in everywhere in there and couldn’t find anything wrong with any of the equipment in there, if anything is malfunctioning it’ll be in the engine.” She announced with a bit of an accent that caused her words to seemingly slur together, she nodded her head to the platform hanging off the side of the front of the cab.
As she moved to walk down the short built in steps Henryk pulled his hand from his pocket and offered it up to her with a smile. A gesture that she promptly brushed off with the wave of her hand as she dropped to the ground next to him, he let the arm fall down to his side but the smile remained as he watched her walk past. She approached the front of the train and grabbed onto a bit of railing hanging off the side, using that she pulled herself onto the narrow platform hanging off the side and began pacing along the side while examining the head of the train.
After a moment she grabbed onto the latch of a thick metal panel, twisted it and raised it with a loud creak, and let it hang in the air as she peered into the interior.
“Maybe I could hold a lighter for you?” Henryk said while looking up at her backside, swaying slightly on his foot.
“I don’t need any help right now, I don’t plan on doing anything big right now anyway.” Her voice was muffled as half her head was inside of the hatch she had just opened up.
The blonde man turned his head slightly to Subaru, who hadn’t moved and was the closest person aside from the meditating O’saa. “Would you look at that behind.” He said a little too loud, cracking a grin at the raven haired teens reaction.
“Are you serious!?” Although the grin faltered for a moment as the rust haired woman pulled her head away from the interior of the train and poked her head over the platform to stare down at the two.
“Uh, I’m not part of this” Subaru immediately took a step away, cringing under her glare.
“If you keep that up I’ll come up with a better use for this wrench.” She shook a surprisingly large pipe wrench at Henryk. “How about you come up with some way to make yourself useful?”
The cheeky grin on his face fell away, leaving an almost annoyed glare as the two locked eyes. Henryk was the first to look away, staring down at his feet as he rubbed one in the dirt. “Maybe I will do just that…just wait and see ginger” He finished his sentence in a near whisper as he pushed off the train wheel he was leaning against and walked off into the woods after Karin.
“Yeah, go make me proud!” She waved her wrench after him like one might wave a torch in an angry mob, after Henryk disappeared behind the tree line she turned her attention back to Subaru who unwillingly froze up. Although to his surprise the cold look fell away and was replaced with a soft smile.
“We weren't introduced before, my name is Abella, nice to meet you. I’m a little busy right now but it seems like there will be plenty of time for friendlier introductions later.” She was quick to turn back to her work, leaving Subaru standing there awkwardly.
The sound of the train door opening caused Subaru to turn around, stumbling out of the door was the well dressed businessman that he had seen earlier. His glazed over eyes had vanished and was replaced with a confused look as he scanned the group. He moved hesitantly down the metal steps and into the grass, in his left hand hung a brown leather suitcase that he clung to tightly.
August, who was standing next to the exit, turned to the salaryman and helped him down from the train stairs. The two spoke quietly together for a moment, the Japanese man seemed to deflate and August gave him an apologetic pat on the back.
“I’m sorry you find yourself in such an unfortunate position my friend, although if you truly are in such a hurry then feel free to hike through the woods. I would think the quickest way would be through that path just there.” August spoke, keeping one hand on the man's shoulder while the other pointed towards the clearing in the forest. It took Subaru a moment but he could actually see a small patch of stone pathing sticking out from the overgrowth.
The two shook hands, August’s height made him appear like some sort of gentlemanly giant in comparison to the salaryman. Without another word the man in the fedora walked off, only taking a moment to flatten the creases in his suit.
“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I will also be making my way towards the city, there is much to do and not nearly enough time to do it after all.” With that he straightened his tie and took a step away from the train, and then stopped. “And as a word of warning, I suggest anyone who wishes to hike to the city follow the same path that I directed Mister Tanaka towards. The way Miss Sauer and Mister Henryk took leads to a… rather dangerous part of the slums.” And without any more words he walked into the woods himself, although strangely neither the way he directed “Mister Tanaka” nor the way that Karin and Henryk left, instead he wandered directly into the woods as if making a beeline for the tower in the distance.
Subaru looked around awkwardly as everyone dispersed in various directions, either to the train or into the woods. Olivia was standing with one hand bracing herself against the train, and the other against the arm of the quiet muscular man who helped her climb back inside of the train car and followed her a moment after.
“So… it’s just the three of us left…” Subaru said after a moment, the only three remaining outside the train being the exotically dressed O’saa and Abella, along with himself. The other two appeared to be too lost in their activities, O’saa in his meditation and Abella in her train repairs.
“Well… I don’t know about you two but I think I’ll be going… I want to see what this whole city is about.” He said out loud to the two of them, a silence that stretched out for too long as neither replied to him.
“I will also be leaving soon, but I do not think I will head to the city just yet…” Just as Subaru began to turn away from the two and escape the awkwardness O’saa suddenly spoke up.
“So… where will you go if not the city then?” Subaru said while slowly turning back around to the dark skinned man. The silence between the two stretched out for an almost frustratingly long time again. After receiving no response Subaru slowly turned back around and took a step away.
“That is none of your business…” O’saa once again interrupted Subaru’s exit, causing him to stop mid step.
“Then why even bring it up!?” He spun back around to the meditating man, whose face did not change or seem to even register Subaru’s shout. The only sound between the two was the light sound of metal tapping metal from Abella’s tinkering. Subaru took a step back without turning away from the meditating man, and then another, and another until he was in the shade of the trees. Only then did he turn around and begin walking down the path that August suggested.
Subaru could immediately see why August suggested this path as opposed to the one Karin and Henryk took. The fog seemed to get thicker the further he moved from the train making it hard to know where he was going, if not for the stone pathing, which had been mostly lost to nature, he would have surely gotten lost by now.
The forest was full of interesting fauna, large bushes of cyan and red shrubbery stuck up from the ground occasionally. Strange looking green stalks with sharp white thorns gathered in large patches. Touching them caused Subaru’s hand to tingle and itch, so he decided to keep his distance for the most part.
After a few minutes of walking two small buildings broke through the fog, primitive buildings with thatch rooftops. Wooden beams broke through, and holes appeared in the rotten wooden walls, signs of decay all over the place. He poked his head into one of the cottages and immediately recoiled from the smell, papers and tin cans were scattered all over the floor, a bed with no mattress held a plate of rotten meat. Tiny white maggots squirmed as they feasted on the remains of a long forgotten dinner. Subaru held in a gag and quickly made for the exit, he had never smelled something like that before and now he couldn’t get rid of it. He spent a few minutes pacing outside with his nose clamped shut until it finally passed. He took another look around and briefly scanned over the other cottage.
“This place gives me a bad feeling…” The entire place looked as if it was hurriedly abandoned, quickly and long ago. The idea of people judging it necessary to run away and never come back to their homes for whatever reason made his neck sweat, it made him feel as though he shouldn’t be there. He picked up the pace as he fled from the house, the sensation of eyes boring into him from behind never left his mind.. It wasn’t until the fog swallowed the buildings up again into that pale yonder that the feeling faded.
The mist which prevented him from seeing far ahead made him regret leaving the train, at least there were people in sight there, Olivia seemed nice but he couldn’t really figure out Marina or Abella, the two of them were still an enigma. O’saa was a frustrating puzzle that Subaru figured he would never be able to solve, and he knew nothing about the shady curly haired man.
Subaru shook his head, he couldn't turn back now. This whole thing…was it not what he had been wishing for his whole life? To have a chance to start all over, to reinvent himself in a new world? He didn’t think it was possible, but then he blinked and found himself on top of that tower… the same one that he could see even now from between the tree branches and through the smoke like a lighthouse guiding him where to go. He wouldn’t back down and cower at the first obstacle. He would follow the adventure and see where it took him, anything was better than waiting around and wasting away.
The fragments of the stone pathway became less and less frequent which was worrying. The grass grew taller making it harder to detect the small bits he could see, and after a while he couldn’t help but think he was lost. He took a moment to closely examine his surroundings, looking for any sign of—
He stopped dead in his tracks, his heart dropping down to his stomach as he saw a man crouched behind a tree, just an outline in the fog. Subaru immediately fell into a defensive stance, or as defensive as one could be with only a single plastic bag for a weapon, and the only reference for what he should be doing came from movies and video games.
“I see you, c-come on out!” He said, cringing slightly at the shakiness of his voice. The figure stood up slowly, and approached. Subaru’s defensive stance slowly turned more and more into an aching readiness to retreat as the fog began falling away and revealing more of the person ahead of him. A moment later as he breached the fog all of Subaru’s fear drained away, as the man who appeared before him was the salaryman from the train.
“Oh, Tanaka right? Thank god it's you, I was worried that there was some monster out there… Uh, it’s Subaru by the way” Subaru let out a dramatic sigh of relief before putting on the award winning smile that came with being a son of the Natsuki family. Tanaka did not respond at first, although he himself seemed relieved to see Subaru. It was only after taking a minute to look at him that Subaru realized something was wrong. The man was trembling as if he were cold, and his eyes darted around wildly over every feature of Subaru’s person, his hands gripping the suitcase so hard that the knuckles turned white.
“Uh, are you oka—”
“Bodies, I f-found two bodies uh, corpses…” Tanaka interrupted Subaru suddenly, his breathing was erratic as he mumbled under his breath.
Subaru felt that pit open up again under his heart, dropping it to the depths of his chest. He immediately looked all around them, instinctually looking for any sign of danger.
“Bodies..? Where? Are you okay?” Subaru locked back in, scanning Tanaka over for any injuries. He couldn’t spot any bleeding or rips in the clothing, but he needed to hear from the man himself.
“No, there… they were dead when I found them… I didn’t.. I didn’t see what did it. They aren’t far ahead, I… I turned back to tell everyone… we should head back, it isn’t safe out here.” As he spoke his head occasionally turned to look over his shoulder, he was wound so tight that Subaru was sure any sudden movements would cause him to have a heart attack. If there was something dangerous out there then it only made sense to turn back, every instinct Subaru had told him he needed to retreat back to safety.
Even so…
“No, I’ll keep going. Thanks for the heads up Tanaka, I’ll keep an eye out for anything…” Subaru could not turn back now. He wouldn’t give up at the first hurdle, if he turned his back now then it would only be acting the same as he always did. Tanaka did not look even remotely pleased, his eyes pleading with Subaru as he took a step forward.
“Hey this is serious! You can’t just go running off like that, people are really dead! Someone or something is out here! We need to head back.” Tanaka clutched Subaru’s arm with the same desperation as his briefcase, stopping him in his tracks.
“No way, I’ll be fine, just go on back without me. There isn’t anything back there and I’m not about to sit around doing nothing when I just got here.” Subaru recoiled and the two stared at each other for a moment.
“Fine, I was a headstrong kid too once, I can see that I won’t change your mind. Just run away if you see anything, kids like you always bite off more than they can chew and don’t realize it until it’s too late.” Tanaka composed himself and gave him an earnest nod before Subaru headed off further down the path. He took one look back as he went, with Tanaka slowly vanishing into the distance as they parted ways.
As Subaru continued through the woods the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. It was only now that he realized the forest was dead silent, he wasn’t sure why he didn’t notice it before. It was as though the fog around him had suppressed the world outside of his immediate vicinity, leaving him only the sound of his footsteps on the damp grass.
The infrequent patches of stone eventually faded away completely, although Subaru did not need to fear being lost as there were now small wooden posts outlining a pathway for him. Long grass and weeds sprouted around them, further showing the, further showing the long term decay of this place.
After a few minutes he came across the side of a dirt embankment, the path continued to his right, but to his left there was a break. The wooden posts guiding him were bent and splintered here, and when he took a closer look he could see a black and red crust that stuck to the posts and grass. It reminded Subaru of cuts and scrapes that he would get when he was younger, playing with other kids from school around town, the way his blood would dry up and create a scab over the wound. Subaru swallowed and took a step in that direction, the fog slowly unfurling with each step, creating some tension as he could not see very far ahead of him. He soon came across another patch of dried blood, and then another, and after a few more steps a building came into view.
Folded over at the base of the wall was a man, a long metal pipe stuck out from his chest, one arm holding onto the point where it entered his limp corpse. His right arm and leg both sat a distance from him, the limbs amputated at the elbow and knee and tossed carelessly aside. Above him, occasionally dripping scarlet droplets upon the man's clothes was a woman, the same kind of pipes that were stuck in the man had been run through her and pinned her to the wall. The bodies were surrounded by flies that were attracted to the sickly sweet scent of their slowly rotting corpses. One landed on the glazed over eye of the woman whose face seemed to be frozen in either pain or shock, or some other emotion that Subaru couldn’t understand.
‘These must be the bodies Tanaka saw…’ Those thoughts barely had time to pass through his mind before he turned away,leaning against a bent wooden post and vomiting on the ground, his eyes were left stinging and his throat felt raw. He wiped at his mouth with the sleeve of his tracksuit, leaving a gross smear on the cuff. He turned back, not wanting to look but being compelled to by morbid curiosity at the same time.
“I didn’t expect… why would someone do this?” He briefly recalled through articles and textbooks that he read about the past how people would make macabre examples of trespassers and put them on display as a warning for others. He knew continuing past this point would put him in danger, would he end up like these people? Another warning sign for the rest of those on the train? No, not him, surely he hadn’t been sent here just to die gruesomely so early. He wasn’t like these people, he was different, but he still couldn’t look at them.
Eventually he forced himself onto his feet and hobbled away, happy for once when the mist came and hid the terrible sight. As he came back to the path he stopped and stared down the way he came, every part of him, down to the pins and needles seeping into the tips of his fingers, told him to go back.
“...” He took a step down the path, continuing onwards and putting as much distance between the two bodies as possible. The vision of the corpses lingered in his mind like a parasite, no matter what he thought about it still came back to him. The haze around him made it difficult to see beyond the tree line, and the shadows of what it did show were only vague approximations of trees and bushes. His mind was playing tricks on him—and the fog was suddenly heavy on his shoulders. It’s suffocating, reeling him in. The apparitions dance just outside his field of vision but he cannot for the life of him distinguish anything true amongst the forestry. ‘ There’s something out there’, His lungs squeeze tight against his chest but he doesn’t dare make a sound, not when danger is so abundantly clear, the only thing he’s truly seen since stepping into this new world. Bushes turned into strangers crouched low and ready to pounce. A stray breeze would rustle a tree branch and Subaru would nearly jump out of his skin thinking someone was stalking him from behind it. The silence of the forest did him no favors, at first he thought it was good as there would be nothing to disguise the sound of footsteps or the snapping of twigs, but several times he turned around suddenly after mistaking his own footsteps for someone else's.
After a few minutes he saw in the distance, or at least to the edge of the murk, where a clearing opened up. At the opposite end was a two story house, it stuck out like a sore thumb here in the woods. The windows were covered by heavy wooden blinders, and the white paint was chipped. Just outside was a single black goat mindlessly chewing on the overgrown grass and a well made of stone. Subaru took a cautious step into the clearing, his eyes locked on the building, scanning the windows for any sign of movement.
‘Is that where the killer lives? Or are there more—’ His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a cough to his left, he let out an all too loud gasp as he spun around to face the noise and froze completely. Crouching only a dozen or so feet away from him was a man, his back was turned to him and he drew in the dirt with some tool, but Subaru’s gasp and sudden movement seemed to alert him to his presence. He whipped his head around, giving Subaru a good look at his deformed face. His left eye was swollen shut with red puffy skin, took on a sickly green pigment, scaly and burnt all the same with a long fresh scar curled around the cheeks of his gaunt face. His clothes were well worn with a smattering of red splotches across his shirt, in his right hand he limply held a curved hand sickle that was rusted brown.
The two both froze in place as they spotted each other at the same time, neither one moving for a few moments. The first one to recover was the deformed man, he tightened his grip on the tool in his hand and broke into a sprint at Subaru who could not force his legs to move.
‘Come on, come on, move dammit!’ The man across from him raised the sickle high above his head as he approached, and just as he swung Subaru managed to force a burst of movement. He leaned out of the way as he took a step back, the over correction causing him to trip and land on his rear. The crazed man jumped on top of him, his free hand grabbing for Subaru’s arms to trap them. Subaru flailed about wildly trying to keep them free, letting loose a lucky swing with no technique, just raw panic induced strength that impacted with his attacker's cheek and sent him rolling off to the side. Subaru turned on his stomach, hastily pulling himself off the ground to run, but just as he managed to stand a hand wrapped around his ankle and pulled the foot out from under him.
His face slammed into the ground hard, the world going dark for a moment on impact. A sharp pain shot through his leg as the rusty sickle pierced his shin. Subaru grit his teeth and unwillingly let out a scream, he instinctively tried to pull his leg away from the source of pain and only succeeded in making the wound larger as it dragged down his shin, his blind anguish allowed his attacker to crawl on top of him. He was flipped over and straddled, the man swung the sickle down at Subaru, wildly cutting up the arms he used to defend his face. Heavy impacts rained down upon him, bloody rain droplets ran from his hands and forearms and onto his face with each swing. It was only thanks to the fact that he was attacked with a dull rusty weapon that the wounds to his arms were not destroyed. The attacks let up for a moment as the man pinned Subaru’s arms down against his chest with one hand, leaving his face unprotected. The pressure against the dozens of cuts from his hand alone made Subaru suck in a breath through gritted teeth. He raised the sickle high above his head.
“NONONONO WAIT, DONT!” Subaru screamed, a desperate cry to appeal to his attackers empathy. The man above him seemed to hesitate for a moment, his one eye widening for a moment, only to harden again a second later. He cocked his arm as he prepared to bring it down hard onto his head. Subaru squirmed under him, flailing his legs and shaking his body in a fleeting attempt to throw the man off, yet nothing seemed to work.
“TERMINA IS—” He shouted as he began to swing, but was interrupted as he was violently thrown off of Subaru. A splatter of something wet hit Subaru’s face, he sat up quickly, ready to throw himself onto his feet but the sight before him made him stop. Standing over the man with the rusty sickle was the figure of a giant brute, long greasy black hair and beard with only a trench coat to cover him. In one muscular hand was an ax. At his feet lay Subaru’s attacker, who had nearly been decapitated, with the neck only holding on by a bit of stringy tendons and skin. The large man raised the ax above his head and brought it down hard on the remaining bit of flesh connecting the head to the body.
“TERMINA IS UPON US!” He shouted in a raw voice, kicking the decapitated head with his bare foot, sending it rolling into the forest. A pool of blood rapidly formed around his corpse, it gathered around the man’s uncovered feet as he turned around to face Subaru.
“T-than…k…s…” Subaru muttered, his voice slowly trailing off as the large man turned around to face him, he was completely naked under his trench coat. His genitals were exposed, something was wrong with them, they were twisted in a strange way, thick veins at the base bulged out and spread through his lower torso like a series of roots would spread through the earth. His face was twisted in an exaggerated look of anger that sent a chill through Subaru’s entire body. A thick beard did nothing to disguise the way his gray face twisted unnaturally. His breathing was erratic and he gripped his ax tightly with both hands as he locked eyes with Subaru. Instantly he knew that his man was at fault for the murders in the ruined house, a primal fear burned through him, shrieking at him to put distance between him and the man with the ax. He scrambled to his feet and took a few steps back, limping as he went, with one hand stretched out towards the ax man.
“Vermin weaseling their way in my land, crawling through every crack and crevice no matter what I do….” He took his large ax in two hands and began slowly walking towards Subaru. His form towered over the raven haired teen who kept limping backwards.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, come on, calm down, I don’t want to fight you!” Subaru pleaded as the man closed in, he briefly considered running but just by walking the man was already outpacing him.
“Outsider, don’t you understand… It is the Festival of Termina! None of you will see the morning sun!” The large man lunged forward with his ax, swinging in a wide arc for Subaru’s head. Instinctively he swung his plastic bag, it slipped from his hand and smacked the bearded man in the face. The plastic bag seemed to take the ax man by surprise, as the ax passed by Subaru’s face by only a few inches. At the same time Subaru lept backwards, his back slamming against the small wall of the stone well. The ax man followed up with a second swing immediately, without thinking Subaru leaned back as far as he could, for a moment there was a sense of weightlessness as he began to fall. His arms flailing for any purchase as he plummeted down the well before—
All the air in his lungs left at once as he crashed into the ground, he immediately gasped for air, trying to suck in as much as he could. For what felt like several minutes he lay there breathing heavily, trying to fill his empty lungs, his eyes which were blurry with tears slowly began to regain focus. Leaning over the top of the well, the gray face of the ax man twisted with rage. He stood there for a few moments, just staring at Subaru before mumbling something under his beard and walking off. The grass crunching under his heavy footsteps slowly became quieter and quieter as he entered the forest again.
Slowly, Subaru sat up and dragged himself to the edge of the well, letting his back lean against the cold stones as he rested. Slowly he pulled his now bloodied tracksuit off and inspected his arms, they were both bloody and stung with every movement. He used the inside of his jacket to wipe them clean, or rather as clean as he could. Luckily the sickle used to attack him was dull, and he wasn’t at any risk of losing an arm. Briefly the memory of his mother driving him to the hospital after he sat on a rusty nail on a park bench passed through his mind.
“Do they even have tetanus shots here?” He wondered aloud as he fretted over the cuts on his arm. He threw the bloodied jacket into the dirt next to him and began peeling his pant leg up. The wound on his leg was far worse than the ones on his arm. It seemed that the point of the sickle was much sharper, it had managed to hook in his flesh and carve a small valley in his leg. The wound was bleeding heavily, and within a few moments whatever parts of his leg weren’t already coated crimson would be stained by that viscera completely
He grabbed his jacket again, the cuts on the sleeves made it easy to rip them off. He wrapped the gash on his leg with the sleeve of his jacket and tied it off at the back of his calf. He had never done this before, at some of the more boring points in his life he imagined being in a situation where he would rip the sleeves from his shirt to wrap an injury gained from battling some great enemy. In his daydreams his wounds were a lot less painful, and he always won in the end.
Slowly he pushed himself off the ground, letting out a quiet groan as he put weight on his injured leg. He looked back at the entrance to his new hole and realized with some surprise that it wasn’t too deep, only a few feet out of his reach. Limping to the other side of the well he began testing the wall, grabbing at the stacked stones to check for anything loose. He slowly circled the small confines of his hole checking everything in reach. Round stones and wet moss made it impossible to get a grip strong enough to climb up with. An unsettling thought kicked in, that he might not be able to climb out, that he would be trapped here until he either died by dehydration or starved.
He took a moment to calm himself down and checked the wall again. Nothing.
He checked for cracks that he could hook his fingers into. Nothing.
He looked for anything in the well that might help. Nothing.
He checked his person for anything, he realized he lost the food he bought when he accidentally threw it at the ax man. He tried to remain calm but the panic was starting to get to him. He picked up his jacket and used it to wipe down some of the wet stones, seeking any form of traction he could gain from the slick walls of his prison. They were too round to actually get any sort of grip, he briefly considered trying to practice some parkour moves he had seen on the internet, but the pain in his leg made him give up on that idea before even attempting it.
He didn’t know what to do, he had tried everything, even his phone. He thumbed between his only two contacts, “Mom” and “Dad”, his finger hovered over the call button but he flipped it shut instead, there was no service anyway. He looked up and noticed the sun, which before was right above him, had moved. He must have been trapped there longer than he thought, the morning glory had slipped out of sight and the sky was now full of pinks and oranges. He stared for a moment, only just then realizing how big of a mistake he made. He should have just returned to the train with Tanaka.
“HELP! SOMEBODY!” He cupped his hands around his mouth and let out a cry. He knew the ax wielding man was still nearby, but he didn’t know what else he could do. He shouted for a while, his voice cracking as his throat became more raw and his cries becoming more desperate.
“PLEASE, HELP!” He let out one last shout before collapsing with his back against the wall, breathing heavily as he let his sore throat rest. He wiped a stream of tears from his eyes and used his sleeve to mop up his nose. He looked down to his leg, the sleeve of his tracksuit had been soaked through at this point, luckily his arms had already stopped bleeding. He dragged the rest of his jacket, which was always at arms length in this hole to him, and ripped the other sleeve off. He untied the jacket arm and peeled it away from the gash, replacing the makeshift bandage before resting the back of his head against the cold stones. He closed his eyes and tried not to imagine how badly he messed up by arrogantly marching forward even after Tanaka’s warning, and after he had seen the two corpses on display just before the clearing. What did he think would happen? Did he even consider that he would run into the killer? What happened to everyone at the train, did the ax man come for them too? His mind raced no matter how hard he tried to suppress his own thoughts, for all he could do here was think to himself… and then there was a crunch. The sound of someone walking above.
Subaru stood up so fast that it felt like someone stabbed his leg all over again, and without even considering the danger he shouted up. “Hello! Is someone there!?”
“H-Hello?” A familiar voice called out in response, not the angry gruffness of the woodsman, but the voice of—
“Tanaka! Hey Tanaka, it’s me!” The hope he felt at that moment was almost enough to lift him out of the pit.
“Subaru? Are you down here?” A head appeared over the hole, the fedora wearing head of Tanaka stared down at Subaru in surprise. “Oh, that's… how did you get stuck down there?”
“Please, Tanaka, just help me climb out of here. I’ve been stuck for hours, can you find a rope or a ladder or something, please?” Subaru pleaded to the man who seemed to grasp the seriousness a little late.
“Okay, I’ll see what I can do” His head disappeared, there was a sound of shuffling and things being moved for a few minutes.
“You didn’t come back for a while… and Marcoh came back from town and said that the villagers had all gone crazy. I got worried that something happened to you… glad to see that you’re safe” Tanaka spoke as he searched for something to rescue him, although Subaru hardly heard a word as he silently celebrated.
“I found a rope, here, take it.” A long length of hempen rope unfurled down to him like a ladder to heaven. Subaru grabbed it with both hands and began—
“Oh!” A sudden shout of surprise from Tanaka caused Subaru to look up, something was falling from above and he instinctively put his hands out to catch it. He held the object up in his hands for a moment staring into its… eyes?
…
Tanaka’s eyes rolled into the back of their sockets and his mouth twitched one more time as his decapitated head went through its final death throes. Subaru held onto it for another second in shock before launching it to the other side of the well with a hoarse shout. He pushed himself up against the wall to get as far from what was left of him as possible. He stayed there, staring into Tanaka’s bloodshot eyes for a while before a voice called out from above.
“Come on up boy… you’ve not much time left…” A hauntingly familiar gruff voice, the one from the ax man who knocked him into here. Subaru stared at Tanaka’s head, and considered for a moment if he wanted to stay in this well any longer or if he would be able to face the woodsman. He made his choice quickly and grabbed the rope with both hands, climbing up the well was tough with his injured legs but desperation made the difference and he managed to pull himself over the side and roll out onto the grass. He only stopped to appreciate the earth for a second before practically jumping to his feet to face the woodsman, who was crouching with his legs curled up under his arms next to the well. Next to him was the body of a man in a business suit without a head. “You.. You killed him…”
“Leave now stranger… leave or die…” He didn’t need to say it twice, even though he spoke in a near whisper, his tone was as intense as someone yelling. Subaru turned and saw buildings at a distance through the thicket, he limped away from the woodsman as fast as he possibly could. He briefly recalled that Tanaka had mentioned the city, he wished he paid more attention to his final words. Above it all, the Moon Tower stood in the distance, casting its ominous shadow over the forest.