Chương 14: Regret

Deep within the darkest part of the forest, far beyond the safer paths of Álfheimr, the Black Witch's territory began. The trees there were older. Twisted. Their branches curled over one another like claws, blocking out most of the moonlight. The air was colder, and the silence felt less like peace and more like something waiting to move. In a small clearing, The Doctor, Jackpot, and Labyrinth sat around a fire. The flames crackled softly, throwing orange light across their masks.

Jackpot rested nearby in a hammock made from a blue, crystal-like material. He had one arm behind his head and the other hanging lazily over the side, as if they were on vacation instead of camping in enemy territory.

"Hey, boss," Jackpot said, "I gotta ask." The Doctor looked up from the fire.

"Why did you drag me along this time?" Jackpot continued.

"Normally, you bring Lupin when you have meetings with Lady Medusa." The Doctor chuckled.

"Lupin has a stomachache." Jackpot paused.

"He has a what?"

"A stomachache," The Doctor repeated cheerfully.

"He gets like that whenever I feed him something particularly dense." Jackpot stared at him for a moment. Then he decided not to ask. The Doctor leaned back, watching the flames dance.

"A week and a half," he said.

"That is how long we will be camping here." Labyrinth, sitting close to the fire with her knees pulled to her chest, looked miserable.

"After that," The Doctor continued, "we will be meeting with her." Labyrinth hugged herself tighter.

"Why do I have to stay here?" she asked.

"It's cold and scary." The firelight reflected off her masquerade mask.

"I wanted to stay at the manor. Why couldn't we just teleport?" The Doctor turned toward her.

"A bit of fresh air is good for you," he said.

"You are always cooped up in your room whenever we are not on missions." Labyrinth looked down.

"I like my room." Jackpot sighed from his crystal hammock.

"Ease up on her, boss." The Doctor's plague mask tilted toward him.

"She's just a kid," Jackpot said.

"You put her through too much." For a moment, only the fire spoke. Then The Doctor laughed softly.

"You all keep saying that." His voice remained light, but something colder rested beneath it.

"As if the world has ever cared whether someone is a child." Jackpot's expression hardened behind his azure mask. A pale blue crystal formed in his hand, spreading over his palm before shaping itself into the frame of a pistol. Then a second one formed in his other hand. Labyrinth looked up from beside the fire. The Doctor did not move. Jackpot stepped out of his hammock and walked toward him, both crystal guns hanging at his sides.

"I'm getting really sick of you these days, boss." The Doctor tilted his plague mask slightly.

"Oh?"

"You kidnapped that young Fafnir girl," Jackpot said.

"And you haven't been treating Labyrinth too well either." He raised one gun, the barrel pointing directly at The Doctor's head. The fire crackled between them.

"Is this a rebellion?" The Doctor asked. His tone remained amused.

"You may be one of my Wings, but do not assume I won't dismember you." The Crows had a strict hierarchy. At the top stood The Doctor, their leader. Beside him was Owl, his vice leader. Beneath them were the Seven Wings, each commanding a squad of their own. Labyrinth typically belonged to the Sloth Squad, while Inari served under Gluttony. Jackpot was the Wing of Envy. One of the seven leaders beneath The Doctor. And right now, one of his guns was aimed at his commander's forehead.

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"When I joined you," Jackpot said, "I had two strict conditions." The Doctor said nothing.

"One, you would help me save my son." Jackpot's finger rested near the trigger.

"Two, I would never be forced to kill women or children." Labyrinth's hands tightened around her raincoat. Jackpot's voice lowered.

"I'm adding a third." The Doctor's mask stared back at him through the firelight.

"Take better care of Labyrinth." For the first time that night, The Doctor did not laugh. The forest around them felt colder. Labyrinth looked between them, trembling. Jackpot did not lower his gun.

"I mean it, boss." The Doctor stared at him for a moment. Then he gave a long, exaggerated sigh.

"Fine, fine." He turned his plague mask toward Labyrinth.

"Run back to the base, Labyrinth. Make sure you return one day before the mission." Labyrinth did not wait to be told twice. She dropped to her knees and frantically dragged one finger through the dirt, writing an incantation with shaking hands. The symbols glowed as soon as she finished. A doorway opened in the air. Labyrinth jumped through it without looking back, and the portal closed behind her. A second later, she landed on her bed, far away from the cold forest and the firelight. The clearing went quiet.

The Doctor looked back at Jackpot.

"Happy now?" Jackpot slowly lowered one gun.

"Yes," he said.

"I am." He turned away. The Doctor sighed again. His finger stretched. In an instant, it became a long tendril of flesh and bone. It pierced straight through Jackpot's leg. Jackpot gasped and dropped to one knee, his crystal pistols flickering in his hands. Before he could react, The Doctor was already in front of him. He grabbed Jackpot by the neck and lifted him slightly from the ground.

"Do not question me again," The Doctor said. His voice remained calm.

"It's annoying." Jackpot clenched his teeth, refusing to cry out. The Doctor glanced down at the wound in his leg. Then he pressed his bare hand against it.

"Ability Activate." The torn flesh began to mend.

"Divine Hand." Muscle reconnected. Skin sealed shut. The blood stopped flowing as if the injury had never happened. Only then did The Doctor release him. Jackpot fell back to the ground, breathing hard. The Doctor adjusted his sleeve as if nothing had happened.

"Now listen carefully." Jackpot glared up at him but said nothing.

"I expect you to be on your best behavior." The fire crackled between them.

"We will have a new member joining us soon." Jackpot's expression shifted slightly. The Doctor's tone became cheerful again.

"And once they arrive, the four of us are going to kill Medusa…" He looked toward the deeper darkness of the Black Witch's territory.

"And rip out her eye." Jackpot slowly pushed himself back to his feet. The Doctor returned to the log beside the fire and sat down as if they had only been discussing the weather.

"I will obtain all nine demonic eyes scattered throughout the world," he said. The flames crackled softly. The nine demonic eyes were powerful relics, each one carrying an ocular ability unlike any other. They could be stolen, but only in the most brutal way. The eye had to be ripped from its host. Then eaten. If left alone, if the host died without the eye being taken, the relic would simply reincarnate into another body somewhere in the world. Vanitas Sanguine had once collected all nine during his lifetime.

After his death, no one knew exactly where they had gone. There were only rumors. The Black Witch was said to have acquired three of them. The Fafnir twins, Isaac and Isabelle, were each born with one. A member of The Crows possessed another. A powerful mercenary carried one as well. As for the remaining two, their locations were completely unknown. Jackpot stared at The Doctor from across the fire.

"Tell me something, boss." The Doctor looked at him.

"What is it you actually desire?" For once, The Doctor did not answer immediately. Jackpot's voice remained calm, but his gaze did not waver.

"Owl wants you to kill Lux because of what her Hero did to his wife. I understand that much." The firelight flickered across Jackpot's azure mask.

"But why are you trying to become an Apocalypse?" The Doctor's fingers tapped lightly against his knee.

"Surely there are easier ways to get revenge on the Emperor." The clearing went quiet. Even the forest seemed to still around them. The Doctor lowered his head slightly, thinking. Then he spoke.

"I want to destroy the Hero system itself." Jackpot said nothing.

"I want to lay it all to waste," The Doctor continued.

"Every title. Every prophecy. Every god who thinks they can choose a child, hand them a sword, and call it salvation." His voice remained calm. That made it worse.

"If I must become the villain who burns it all to ashes, so be it." The flames reflected against the beak of his plague mask.

"I will make sure no more Heroes are born in this world." Jackpot's hands tightened.

"By killing Lux." The Doctor looked up.

"And of course, I will kill the Emperor too." For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Jackpot sighed.

"I hope you do not regret your actions in the end." The Doctor stared into the fire. The cheerful mask of his voice faded, leaving only something tired beneath it.

"All we have in the end," he said, "is regret."