Chapter Text
You don’t remember much about how you got here. You remembered stumbling into this strange village, halfway at death's door. You didn’t even know there was a village to begin with, as no maps seemed to know about it.
You remembered flashes of strange and dangerous creatures, chasing you, killing whatever survivors you had encountered. It looked like you were the only one left. What the hell was going on here?
The strange cross between a wolf and a human chased you through hell and back, at least it felt like it. You managed to kill two of them if your memory does not fool you. Their malicious jaws snapped at you, sending terror through your tired body.
The last few memories you have showed a dark, long cave with seemingly no end. Why you thought it was a good idea to enter? Well, it wasn’t like the howls behind you gave you much of a choice on the matter.
The last thing you remembered was something hitting your head, hard. It dropped to the ground next to you and you think it sounded like metal. You couldn’t confirm that though, since darkness overtook your senses just moments after.
Now, you heard voices. Faint at first, but then getting louder. You weren't sure if its voices coming towards you, or if it was your mind slowly starting to wake up. Either way, you heard them now.
You didn’t open your eyes yet, deciding it would be best to wait until you could make some sort of sense of the situation.
You made out five different voices.
The first one boomed through the room. It was a female voice and it dripped with distaste, but by her phrasing, you got the feeling it was a noblewoman, or at least someone with high status and probably a big ego. She seemed to think of herself as better as the others with her.
The second voice was almost shrill enough to make you flinch. You first assumed it must be a child, though it sounded too – how to put it – mechanical. Like it wasn’t even quite human.
The third voice was another woman. She didn’t seem to talk much, she just occasionally interrupted the heated argument between the people in the room, almost like she was overseeing it and making sure things didn't escalde too much.
The fourth actually did make you flinch. It was a deep voice, but it sounded almost muffled. Like the person talking had his mouth full of something, maybe eating? You couldn’t quite tell, but somehow, you got the feeling that the fish-like stench came from the man.
The last voice in the room could’ve easily been the loudest. A deep and rough voice, definitely a man. Whenever he spoke, the sound of something dragging along the floor could be heard. It sounded heavy.
The man and the first woman seemed to be in a deep argument, though it didn’t seem like it was about you at all.
“Urgh, could you perhaps step outside? Your man-stench is unbearable.”
“My stench?! Is your head too high up to notice the smell of your huge feet?!”
It sounded like useless bickering, the two didn’t seem to get along.
The curiosity to put faces to those voices got the better of you as you slowly opened one eye at a time. You barely managed to hold back a screech of terror at the scene that greeted you.
The tallest woman to have ever walked the earth, towering over a scrubby looking man, wielding a huge hammer.
A doll was dancing around them, using her shrill voice to encourage them to fight. Desperately you searched for some kind of string mechanism holding it up, because surely it couldn’t be moving on its own. The dark figure sitting behind it seemed to be connected to it somehow, as she watched closely at what the doll was up to.
On the other side of the room stood…something with a hunchback. A dark cloak covered the whole body and as it mumbled to itself, you realised it was the fourth voice you’ve heard, the man that had his mouth full. To your dismay, it seems like his voice sounded like that because of his deformities.
Finally, you looked at the last figure standing there ominously. A woman, covered with feathers, wearing a golden sort of mask. As you looked at her face, you made eye contact. She unfurled three sets of wings from her back, the force of which could be felt in the whole room, quieting everyone down immediately.
“She is awake.”
As all eyes turned towards you, you finally realised that not only were you lying on the cold floor, but you were also in a cell and your chest throbbed from a deep cutting pain. The adrenalin flowing through your body seemed to have pushed the pain away for the moment, but it wouldn’t hold long.
The woman started walking towards you, but the little doll beat her to it, running at the cage like a child who was in a zoo, wanting to see the monkeys.
You flinched back with a startled sort of yelp, the movement making you groan out in pain right after. Your hand went to your chest, feeling a deep scar there. It was long, stretching from one collarbone to the other in a V-Shape, all the way down to your sternum.
“Donna! Call back your doll at once!” The tall woman yelled before anyone else could react.
The dark figure at the edge of the room nodded, lifting her hand. The doll giggled and ran back to her mistress, climbing into her lap.
Even though the interaction didn’t seem to be of any care to him, the man with the hammer jumped at the chance to yell at the tall woman once more. “OH! Our dear Lady seems to have become even bigger! Last I heard, your sorry ass can’t tell us what to do!”
The woman you now knew as Donna didn’t even seem to mind at all. She just gently patted the vail on top of the dolls head in a loving manner.
Before the two could continue to go at each other’s throats, the crow-like woman yelled one single, but strong word.
“Silence!”
The reaction was immediate, everyone straightened their back, heads slightly bowed in submission. They all murmured a quiet “Yes, Mother Miranda”, even the man with the hunchback in the back, who hadn’t had anything to do with the whole interaction.
Mother Miranda, as you now knew her name to be, shook her head slightly before moving closer to you once more. You wanted to back away, to press yourself as far back into the cell as possible but your limps were weak, you could barely hold yourself up from the ground at all. So, when Mother Miranda crouched down to you, you simply looked back at her with fear written all over your face.
Her eyes behind that mask were a haunting ice blue. You wouldn’t be surprised if someone shaped some ice into eyes and gave them to her, perhaps as a gift. She appeared powerful and strong, maybe not even entirely human. You even felt ice cold when she just stared at you for a minute.
“How are you, child?”
Of all the things she could’ve asked, somehow you didn’t even consider this question a possibility. The way she looked at you was motherly, but the word “child” gave you a chill. You couldn’t say why.
“P-Pain.” You somehow croaked out, your throat painfully dry.
When was the last time you had anything to drink? Perhaps some water would be nice…or something stronger maybe.
“I see.” Mother Miranda said.
She got up again, a key seemingly manifesting from nowhere, but it was in her hand, in the end, all the same. She inserted it into the lock of the cell, twisting it twice. The metal door slammed open fast and hit the wall hard, making you cower away in fear.
Mother Miranda turned slightly to the man with the big hammer, glaring at him, as if he had anything to do with it. He was at least two meters away, how could she even think he did that. But at the way he smirked, you suddenly weren’t as sure anymore.
Sighing as if she had a headache, Mother Miranda turned back to you and stretched her hands down invitingly. “Come child. Can you stand?”
Hesitantly you reached up and grabbed her hands, slowly rising from the ground. You hissed and groaned in pain at every move, your legs shaking with strain. Sensing this, Mother Miranda gave a short nod to the tall woman, who sprang into action immediately.
With hands, far more gentle than you had assumed from their size, she picked you up, supporting your back with one hand and placing the other under your knees. While the style she held you with was that of a bride being carried, you felt more like a small child being cradled by their mother.
Finally, outside of the cell, you could take in your surroundings. You didn’t recognize any of it, but from the looks of it, you were in an abandoned church, or maybe a some sort of chapel.
Carefully, the Lady placed you down on a plush chair. You peeked up into her yellow eyes and saw something almost animalistic in them. It shocked you. She looked noble, a woman of high standard for sure. She was beautiful, the red lipstick stuck out well from her porcelain skin. She was the perfect Lady, but her eyes were haunting. While she was gentle and smiled at you, her eyes looked like those of a predator, looking at its prey. The mixture was unnerving.
“My dear, mind your manners. Staring is rude.”
Her words snapped you out of your mind again. “S…Sorry.”
As if on cue by hearing your sore throat, the man with the hunchback approached, sadly along with his smell. Before you could even think to flinch back or even hold your nose closed, he held a glass of clear liquid, water presumably, towards you.
“Here! It’s the cleanest in the reservoir!” He sounded way too excited about it.
It made you a little suspicious. But you felt like there wasn’t a real choice here. Who would decline something as simple as water with so many obviously dangerous people around?
You took it gently, trying not to grimace when you felt a slimy substance on the glass where he had touched it. You hesitated but drank. It was indeed water and you couldn’t help but sigh with relief as it washed down your aching throat in a soothing manner.
“Thank you.”
The man's eyes widened as if he hadn’t heard those words in years. It seemed like he wanted to say something more, but the rough voice of the other man didn’t let him.
“Move along, fish freak! Mother Miranda wants to give her something.”
Despite your better judgment, you turned towards the man and glared at him. He raised an eyebrow at you, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. He was daring you to do something, as if you could, in the state you were in.
Mother Miranda's voice brought you back though. She held out a plant to you. “Eat this child. It will help with the pain.”
And you took it, eating it slowly. These people were weird, but so far weren’t particularly hostile towards you. You wondered what was going on. Did these people rescue you, or were they the ones to capture you? What did they want from you?
You swallowed the rest of the plant together with a gulp of water. The pain in your chest lessened, not exactly gone, but definitely better.
Gathering the rest of your senses, you finally asked: “Who are you people? And where the hell am I?”
The tall Lady rolled her eyes, the way you talked seemingly putting her off. Hammer-Dude chuckled, as if you had made some sort of joke.
Mother Miranda just smiled, you realized it was meant to be kind, but it came off as creepy to you. “Oh child, you’re right. I shall introduce everyone.”
She went over to the tall woman, who straightened her back proudly as Mother Miranda introduced her.
“This is my eldest daughter, Lady Alcina Dimitrescu. Perhaps you have caught a glimpse of her castle that stands above the village.”
Despite the Lady scaring you, you let out a quiet snicker.
That seemed to throw Lady Dimitrescu off even more. “Is something funny, child?”
You sensed the danger in her tone and were smart enough not to mention that it was obvious a woman of her size needed a whole goddamn castle. You simply shook your head.
Mother Miranda continued as if nothing had happened, laying her hand on the shoulder of the cloaked woman with the doll.
“And this is my second oldest, Donna Beneviento, accompanied by her…friend Angie.”
Mother Miranda had to pause, as if to decide what exactly to call that doll as to not agitate Donna. While Donna just gave you a curt nod, Angie bounced on her lap, clearly struggling against her mistress’s hands holding her down. “You wanna play at our house?! We’re sure to give you a nice party!”
Somehow, you didn’t believe that doll. Still, you were wondering how it talked and moved on its own.
“At last, my two sons.” Mother Miranda silenced any further talk between the doll and you.
She, almost dismissively, gestured towards the hunchback. “My second youngest, Salvatore Moreau.”
She didn’t even bat an eye at him as she talked, while Moreau looked up at his mother in awe. It made you feel a little sad.
Lastly, she went to the last man standing, touching his upper arm. You could tell that he was tensing up, saw it in the way the muscles of his neck flexed. From Mother Miranda's angle, she probably couldn’t tell. Or she simply didn’t care.
“Karl Heisenberg, Lord of metal. I’m sure you have seen his factory on the outskirts of the village. After all, you were running towards it through that cave.”
Your attention snapped up to her. So they were the ones who knocked you out! The huge scar on your chest was inflicted by them as well then. What have they done to you?
Before you could voice any of this, Heisenberg snapped. “Enough talking already! Some of us have other things to do.”
You got the feeling he was staring at you, but the dark lenses perched on his nose didn’t allow for you to see it clearly.
“Very well.” Mother Miranda went back to her throne, sitting down. Distantly you thought of how arrogant she was, not introducing herself to you, as if you were supposed to know her already.
What she said next made your whole body freeze.
“Who wants to take her?”
As if waiting for these very words, Lady Dimitrescu spoke up. “Mother Miranda, I think it is a clear choice that I should take her! That young thing could use some teachings in manners and my daughter so love meeting new people.”
Heisenberg storms towards her, huge hammer slung casually over his shoulder. “Shut your fucking hole! That girl could use a man's touch if anything! And your three beasts you call daughters would just rip her apart like the last one!”
“How dare you insult my daughters you filthy man-thing! As if you child were even an option here!”
It was honestly intimidating to watch these two fight, you basically sitting in the middle of two giants.
Their arguments seemed to be way more than just simple sibling bickerings.
“What the hell are you even talking about?! I’m not going with anyone!” You finally mustered up enough courage to raise your voice. It was short-lived however as both Heisenberg and Dimitrescu turned to yell at you.
“Shut your mouth!”
“Quiet!”
You shrunk away immediately, realizing you held no power over your fate when faced against them. You heard Angie trying to make her case as well, but her shrill voice was no match to the other two. Moreau didn’t even seem to want to try.
After Lady Dimitrescu and Heisenberg started to threaten each other instead of arguing their case, you heard Mother Miranda stand up again. She didn’t even have to say anything for the two to snap their mouth shut this time, glaring at the other quietly.
Miranda rubbed her temples in small circles, clearly annoyed. “Let’s try something else…She shall choose the Lady or Lord that shall become her guardian herself.”
Guardian? What the hell was going on?!
Once more, all eyes snapped towards you. Oh no, this couldn’t end well, you realized.
“Now my dear, the choice is easy isn’t it? Do you really consider choosing that wretched boy over a true Lady like me?” Lady Dimitrescu gestured at Heisenberg, her eyes roaming over your body. It’s the same look from before, that smile of a predator.
“As if!” Heisenberg laughed directly at the woman's face before turning to you. “Hey, just so you know, her daughters are quite big on biting people! Not to mention that as untouched as you look, you will quickly learn what our dear Lady does in her dungeons.”
The two turned back to arguing and insulting each other. Your mind was racing, thinking of ways to escape this place, but five people coming right after you didn’t seem like a good chance of actually making it.
Something tugged on your pant leg, you looked down at the porcelain face of Angie. “Come with us! Our house needs a new friend! We have many friends at home already! You wouldn’t feel alone. Not ever again.”
She was giggling and bouncing, as if this was all a big joke. Desperately you turned your head to where Moreau was standing, but he has vanished. While he certainly was the most disgusting one of the four, he also seemed to be the most kind, but by the looks of it, he had left, clearly assuming that he didn’t have any chance at all.
A growl snapped your attention back, Heisenberg now towering over you. This close, you could see his eyes glaring at you through the dark glasses as you tried to cower away. He looked offended.
“Moreau?! You’re thinking about picking that freak over me?!”
It made you flinch, but he was yanked back by Lady Dimitrescu. “See how gauche he is?! Come to my castle with me. We have great wine.”
Miranda appeared to have had enough, with a flash of her feathers she was behind you, both hands on your shoulders, even as you tensed up. “Silence!”
It was kind of satisfying to see the others flinch as well, made you feel like it wasn’t just you that was under a threat.
“Child, choose your pick.”
The remaining three stood before you, Donna having risen from her chair and holding Angie to her chest. Everyone looked at you expectantly.
A pit was forming in your stomach, the fear of angering any of them was real and you remained quiet for a moment. But in the end, wasn’t this mercy? Mother Miranda gave you the choice, you could choose your doom. Or who you presume you could survive the longest or escape from easiest.
You looked at Donna, Angie waving at you excitedly. While Donna looked the most dormant, both she and Angie creeped you out immensely. You had a feeling that if you went with Donna, you would be stuck in her grasp forever, she was hiding something much darker under her veil. Donna was out.
You looked at Heisenberg, giving you a smug grin. His huge hammer, which he swung around like it weighed nothing, was definitely a big threat to your life. But maybe it also meant it was slowing him down, at least a little.
Looking up at Lady Dimitrescu didn’t make the choice easier. That hunger in her eyes made you think of Heisenberg's words before, how her daughters were big on biting. And while a castle certainly would give you enough spaces to hide in, you would basically be fighting to escape four people.
The choice wasn’t easy, but Heisenberg's factory looked to be the easiest option. The factory didn’t look that big when you saw it and you were certainly more agile than him. In Heisenberg, you saw something the other two didn’t give you: A chance to escape.
Taking a deep breath, you pointed at him, enduring the ensuing curses from Lady Dimitrescu and the whines of Angie. You had made your choice.
Somehow, Heisenberg's smug face irritated you most.