The Red Hand

Chapter 95 – Hishya’s Worst Fears Realized.

After heading home from Akagi's estate, Hishya ran errands around Tokyo for her parents. She picked up groceries, dropped some things off, and cleaned the house while they were at work. Without a job or school to go to, she had very little to do during the day. She had more money than she could ever spend from her time in FWO, and with Akagi's help, she was able to convert that into usable currency. Hishya had tried to give some to her parents, but they declined out of parental pride.

With her intervention in Nagoya, she'd officially joined the RRT as a temporary member and hoped to deal with Libra as quickly as possible to prevent more casualties. With any luck, the government would agree to Akagi's terms, and she'd handle the group before they could move against Hishya's parents. They told her not to worry and to do what she felt was right. But the thought of them getting hurt kept her awake at night and she was reluctant to leave them alone for too long, lest something happen while she was away. Though in the end, they forced her to give them at least some space. 

After returning to the house and putting away all the groceries, Hishya took to cleaning. Something that didn't take much time due to her super speed and flight. Once she was done, she relaxed on the couch and decided to take a break for a bit until it was time to make dinner. It would be a few hours before her parents got home from work, so she decided to check in and see how the other players were reacting on her forum and see how people were handling things generally.

Blackbox

• This is really getting out of hand, guys. I'm getting scared, like so many people just died!

BlueDog

• Yeah I'm only over here in Osaka, I knew people who died in Nagoya. And to make things worse, people have been harassing me calling me a monster or terrorist just because I was in FWO with those people. I don't even have any powers and they probably want me dead like everyone else! SO LEAVE ME ALONE!

Great Friend.

• Seriously! I've had so many people up my ass because I'm former FWO! Like, I'm just as fucking scared as you! Those people can blow my head off with a thought.

Hishya

• I'm sorry that people are behaving like that. I should have gotten involved sooner...

BlueDog

• Don't blame yourself. You had your reasons, and you're helping now despite the risk to you and your family. It's not your fault people are assholes.

Great Friend

• Yeah! Don't be down on yourself.

Blackbox

• Hey Hishya.

Hishya

• What's up?

Blackbox

• Are the rumors true? Is Akagi going to help?

Hishya

• We're working on it. I know a lot of you can't stand her, but we really don't have a choice. Having her get involved is always a pain, but it's necessary.

BlueDog

• Even though you can nuke a city?!? Are you really not enough to beat Libra? Like I know Akagi is crazy, but is she actually going to make that much of a difference if the super dragon can't do it?!?

Hishya

• Sadly, no. I have a lot more power than before, but fighting twenty-odd people is beyond me. Akagi herself confirmed this, and you should know that she knows the strength of each of us better than anyone else. As for her, yeah she can do this alone tbh. Her Demon power is on a level you need to see to believe, I suspect that Herlex going max power would be hard pressed to damage her in any meaningful way, let alone win.

Great Friend

• That's simultaneously reassuring and horrifying... What's going to happen to the world if Akagi really can solo like twenty people???

Zoomi Boi

• Speaking of her intel on us, I always did wonder how she knew everything about us in-game. Almost like she had some kind of spy or could use divination magic.

Purple Rose

• I thought the same, but who on earth would work for her? Like, what do you get out of it? And there aren't many people who could get that info and not be found out.

BlueDog

• Maybe she threatened someone? Like work with me or die? I could see her doing something like that.

Hishya

• No, that's not her style. Despite what you all might think, Akagi doesn't resort to intimidation for things like that in most cases. And it doesn't do much good now, does it? If there was a spy, which I doubt, it's over anyway.

Blackbox

• Was it you, Hishya? I always found it strange she didn't kill you at Hassan. Did she make you a spy in exchange for your life?

Hishya

• No, and if it was, I wouldn't admit it. So asking me is pointless.

Blackbox

• Fair, just figured I'd ask. And also, I wouldn't exactly blame you in that case.

BlueDog

• Doesn't really make sense for the leader of the team to sell us out anyway.

Mixu

• Akagi had a mole. I don't know who, but I can confirm someone in the upper echelon of the AT was her agent.

Purple Rose

• And you know this how?

Mixu

• I have my ways. ;)

Blackbox

• Well, if she did, it would explain a lot. Tricky bastard was always one step ahead of us with her games...

Hishya

• Now that you mention it... she did always seem to know our deployments. And she was always in the perfect place to mess with us or be annoying. Maybe she really did? But who? There aren't many of us that would have that level of intel and I can't see any of them betraying like that.

The conversation then went into a guessing game of who the mole was, but no one could really agree on anything. There was only a limited number of suspects, but no one could point to anything concrete that would indicate who it was. Eventually, the conversation moved to different topics ranging from discussion of Libra attacks, attempting to flee the country and even some speculation about if Akagi was behind a few suspicious deaths.

Hishya turned off her AR and looked up at the ceiling.

"I wonder if Akagi really did have a mole in the team?" Hishya sighed. "I just hope that means someone who was my friend isn't really a traitor." Hishya figured that whoever it was must have had a damn good reason for acting as Akagi's agent since they weren't an NPC. "Oh well, who cares anyway. They're probably just some powerless nobody now anyway."

In fairness, Birdy never acted against the Assault Team, and Akagi merely wanted her to report intel rather than undermine their efforts. As for why she would side with Akagi? Well, there aren't many reasons one would become a follower of the assassin.

Deciding that this train of thought would do little more than depress her. Hishya stood up and decided to begin dinner preparations since since her parents would want to eat as soon as they got home. It wouldn't be long before they got off work, and she wanted to make sure they got dinner, something the two frequently forgoed due to their busy schedules. 

She got straight to working frying things up and getting things ready. Hishya learned a bit about cooking during her time in FWO, but was never that great at it. A little bit later, her parents got home from work. The two worked in the same office building, so they usually carpooled. Hishya had just finished everything, and dinner was only a few minutes away when her father showed up.

"Something smells good." Her dad walked into the kitchen and hugged her. "Thanks for making dinner. I'm starving!"

"Yeah, sorry you end up doing this most days." Her mother came around the corner. "Though it's nice to see you able to cook. And it's nice to eat something other than microwave meals" She smiled, you could see bags under both their eyes.

"Yeah, never thought I'd be able to walk, let alone cook." Hishya smiled. "It's nothing special, and my cooking is still quite limited. So I hope curry is ok? That's about as elaborate as I'm going to be able to make for right now."

{I never thought I'd miss the FWO cooking system!} (Hishya)

"Sounds good to me!" Her father smiled. "Can't beat a home-cooked meal no matter how simple."

Hishya hadn't been able to enjoy such simple moments with her family since before she'd been diagnosed with M.D. Her parents had tried to spend time with her as much as possible in the hospital, but it was always going to be hard due to their jobs, and her lack of mobility. Hishya had always assumed she'd die before she got a chance to taste her mothers cooking again, let alone actually do cooking herself, so this was a treat to her. Her parents took off their coats, and the three of them sat at the kitchen table for dinner together. Hishya's cooking wasn't the best, but neither of her parents complained one bit. They were just happy to have their daughter back, even if she was a bit different. Though strangely enough, the dragon aspect didn't seem to bother either of them and her mother thought the tail was cute.

The three discussed some mundane things like how the day at the office went, Hishya talked about helping an old lady at the store and eventually the dragon girl discussed how she'd be going on a mission in the next few days to take down some of Libra. It was a sobering topic, though both her parents held strong and told her to use the power she'd been gifted to help people, and that they'd support her no matter what. It was a touching conversation, which was swiftly ruined by her mother's question about her would-be girlfriend.

"So...." Her mother looked at her. "How are things going with Kana? Have you finally had some fun yet?"

Her question caused Hishya to nearly choke on her food. Her mother was aware of the situation, as mothers are, and decided to ask. Though Hishya really wished she wouldn't get into that topic right now.

"It-its going." Hishy's face turned slightly. "Once this whole thing with Libra ends. That's when I'm going to... you know..." She'd decided to ask Kana out officially once things calmed down, something she regretted instantly because death flag.

"I guess I should be glad it's a girl. Don't have to worry about chasing her away!" Her father laughed.

"I would be angry if you did," Hishya said. "She accepted me for who I am, flaws and all. I couldn't find anyone better even if I searched the entire world."

"Now we just have to figure out grandkids." Her mother chuckled. "Do you have any magic to solve that? I'd like to see some tiny dragons running around." She was only half kidding.

Once again, Hishya turned bright red. "I-I think we're a bit out of luck on that front."

{I swear you just do that to embarrass me!} (Hishya)

Seeing her reaction caused both her parents to bust out laughing.

"Just think, not even a year ago, you were stuck in a bed, unable to move. And here we are talking about your first girlfriend." Her mother's eyes got slightly watery. "I don't know who to thank for this blessing." She reached across the table and grabbed Hishya's hand. "I don't want to admit this, but your father and I... we... we were expecting the phone call any day. We knew you wouldn't survive, and it was stressful. Every time our phone rang, it caused our hearts to sink into our chest."

"Yeah." Her father's eyes were also a bit wet. "I'm just glad we can sit around a table like a family again. I missed this so much, and I count my blessings every day."

{Honestly, its a miracle that my body didn't give out during the four years in FWO. But I'm glad it managed to hold on, because now... now I can start paying back my parents for everything.} (Hishya)

Hishya was truly grateful for the love her parents gave her, and how they'd never once abandoned her when she was ill. Even when it seemed hopeless, they tried their very best to cure her. When that proved impossible, they did everything they could to stay by their side and help her through the pain. She was their one and only daughter, and they'd be dammed if they didn't do everything possible to ease her suffering. The years she'd spent trapped in FWO had only served to increase her longing for a normal life, and the second chance she'd been given was something she wanted to hold onto, no matter what. That's why she asked Akagi for a pact and why she was so reluctant to get involved in the war against Libra.

Seeing Akagi's family situation, and hearing the horror stories about what she had to go through, made Hishya even more grateful for what she had.

After finishing dinner and doing the dishes, Hishya decided to head to a nearby corner store to pick up some snacks for the week. It wasn't particularly far away, and she'd be back in a few minutes.

"Alright, I'll be right back." She said while kicking on her shoes. "Do we need anything while I'm out?

Her father yelled from the living room. "Pick up some milk! Otherwise I'll have no coffee in the morning."

"Can't have that, you're extra grumpy with out it." Hishys smiled as she took off and headed to the store. A few minutes after she left, came a knock at the door.

"Hishya, did you lock yourself out?" Her mother came out of the kitchen and went to the door. "How many times do I have to tell you to take.... the... key." When she opened the door, what she saw was not Hishya, but a young man with angel wings.

"Sorry for coming so late, but I needed to speak with Hishya." He gave a fake smile. "Can I wait for her in here until she gets back?" Hishya's mother knew who this was. She'd seen him on TV and knew why he was there. "Please don't scream. If you just cooperate, this will all be over soon, and no one has to get hurt."

_____________________________________________________________________________

About ten minutes later, Hishya came home.

"I'm back!" She said as she took off her shoes. "Do you still need help cleaning up?" She poked her head into the living room and was greeted by the horrific sight of Herlex sitting on the sofa with her parents tied up and unconscious. This sight caused her blood to boil and rage flooded her body, causing her eyes to turn draconic.

"Oh, there you are." He smiled. "I was wondering how long until you showed up. But I guess that was pretty quick, good for you."

"Herlex! What did you do to them?" Hishya was about ready to pounce him, but was stopped when the angel put up his hand to stop her.

"Ah, Ah, Ah." He smiled as he held up a small vial. "Go ahead and kill me if you want. But if you do, that will mean your parents die too and I know you don't want that."

"What did you do to them?!?" She demanded an answer, her draconic power began to manifest further.

"Nothing special, I just gave them a dose of Blood Moon Poison. A nifty little thing, and usually harmless. Well, at least to people like us." Herlex grinned.

"Blood Moon Poison!" Hishya's eyes widened. "How did you even get that stuff? It was a special event drop!"

"Akagi wasn't the only collector of rare items." He said as he spun the empty bottle in his hand. "Though I never imagined that I'd actually use this stuff. Funny how things work out, huh?"

Blood Moon Poison was tied to a special quest chain involving the attempted assassination of a Duke in the Empire. The player would need to seek out a special antidote, one that was otherwise impossible to attain, and in return, you would be given one vial of the poison as a quest reward. It did not affect players and would do nothing if ingested by one. But was guaranteed to kill any NPC in under thirty minutes of administering the poison via the mouth.

(The poison time was suspended for the quest so it could be finished at the players leisure.)

Unfortunately, in this case, Hishya's parents were treated the same as an NPC and as such were currently on a timer. If not treated with the antidote soon, they'd die. However, there was one problem with administering treatment for this specific poison.

"The only cure for the poison was the antidote you obtain in the quest! And it wasn't something we could make or even use! So you can't cure them, all you've done is condemn them to a horrible death by the poison!" Hishya was angry thinking her parents were about to die.

"Normally, you'd be right." He said taking a second vial out of his inventory and twirling it in his hands. "But what I have right here is the antidote." He showed it to her. The small vial contained a dark blue liquid. "You only lost the antidote if you completed the quest it was tied to, and I just so happen to have kept it." This was technically possible since not finishing the quest line would allow you to keep the item. Though few players did, since it was useless. 

Hishya looked at the vial and instantly knew he wasn't lying. She'd seen the antidote and what he held matched its appearance from when she did that quest herself.

"Give it to me!" She screamed as horns erupted from her head. "Hand it over now and I'll make sure you're death is as painless as possible!"

"I will if you agree to my terms." He said smirking. "Though I'm afraid that killing me is out of the question."

"Terms?!?" Hishya got angrier. "What terms?!?"

"I want you to work for us." He chuckled. "Agree to that, and I will save them. Naturally, before I administer the cure, I will be taking your parents into custody and restraining them since I can't very well have you attacking me after getting them cured. I thought of simply kidnapping them and taking them back to my base first, but I decided to be nice and go about it this way. So be grateful." Though he was also afraid that simply kidnapping them would give Hishya the time to rally with Akagi and rescue them, he figured by putting Hishya on a limited timer and forcing her to come along he could ensure her cooperation.

"You want to use them as hostages?!?" Hishya spit her words. "You want to use me! Make me help in your murderous plans?!?"

"Yes," He smiled. "You got involved, so you should understand my actions. I gave the dose about five minutes ago. So, you have about twenty-five minutes to make a decision. And naturally, attacking me will see this vial destroyed and don't even think about trying to take them to get help. I've confirmed this poison isn't curable in this world, though feel free to rush them to a hospital. Just don't say I didn't warn you." He winked.

"You bastard!" Hishya exclaimed.

"Hey, I'm just doing what needs to be done to win." Herlex shrugged. "I'll give you a few minutes to decide. I hope when I return, you'll have a positive answer for me." He snapped his fingers and teleported away.

Hishya instantly ran to her parent's side and cast low-level healing magic on them, but it had no effect.

"He's right." Hishya began to cry. "There's nothing I can do. Because of me, mom and dad will....." She hugged them. "I'm so sorry!"

Hishya was stuck with a horrible decision. If she agreed to Herlex's terms, she'd go to war with Japan and Akagi. This would probably see her killed  by the Demon. Akagi might be able to rescue her confined parents, but Herlex would account for this and create fail-safes to kill them if someone tried to save them. Such artifacts existed in the game, and she knew he and the crafters had them. She could agree to his terms on the surface and then place an SOS to Akagi for help, but she figured that was far too risky. Hishya figured she'd be placed under heavy surveillance and the crafting team had likely made items to ensure compliance. Imp had figured out to suppress ones magical power via some restraints, so Imperial making something that would kill her if she betrayed Libra was very possible.

However, if she ignored him, her parents would die. She would absolutely go after Libra in vengeance and demand that Akagi slaughter them all. But she'd be left alone, and her parents would still be dead. Just when her life finally got back on track, and she'd been granted this reprieve, it would be taken from her. She knew her parents wouldn't want to be used as hostages against her and that they'd tell her not to worry about them. But that didn't make things easier on the dragon girl. She loved her family and they meant the world to her, losing them was tantamount to losing an important part of herself.

Her mind raced, considering all possible options, but she eventually concluded that there was no other option but to allow them to die and then make Herlex pay in blood for his crime. She refused to be made into a puppet and commit atrocities just for the chance at saving her parents. As much as she might want to, Hishya knew that they'd be sad that she picked them over doing what was right. Just as she was about to say goodbye to her parents, her eyes widened in realization as something from months ago flashed in her mind.

"The crystal!" She opened her inventory and looked at the transport crystal Akagi had given her. The Demon gave it to her in case of an emergency, and she was certain this was a dire enough situation. The crystal was calibrated to take Hishya straight to Akagi's side, and it would take Hishya and those she was touching straight to her if crushed. She knew that if anyone could cure them, it would be Akagi, the master of plans and preparation. Surely she of all people had a cure for Blood Moon Poison? Though the dragon girl understood that asking for Akagi's help came with its own risks. There was no guarantee Akagi would help as that would mean taking a side against Libra before she was officially contracted and, even if she did, she might very well ask Hishya to pay a terrible price for their salvation.

{So, it's either become a slave to terrorists or a demon?} Hishya thought as she held the crystal in her hand. {Funny, the demon doesn't sound as bad.} Having made up her mind, she grabbed onto her parents and cracked the crystal in her hand. Whatever Akagi would ask was worth it if her parents lived. In an instant, she and her parents appeared next to Akagi, who was standing in her garden smoking her pipe as she looked up at the moon.

"Akagi! Please help them. Quickly!" Hishya exclaimed, her eyes wet with tears.