After a long nap, Vera wakes up in a
gory mess she made. She stumbles to her feet as she remembers what she did then
throws up. Regret and sadness fill her mind as she hates the person that she
is. Once she feels the strong feelings of sadness numb themselves, she moves
on. While moving forward, she comes across groups of people who live in scrap
houses. They appear to be competing with one another until Vera arrives. When
they see her, they hide in their homes. As she passes by them, they whisper
about her abilities and how they wished they could have them.
One of them tries to sneak up behind
Vera to kill her out of jealousy, but when she looks at the woman, she cowers
in fear and runs back to her home. Vera manages to make it out of the small
settlement with no problems except for the ones she still carries. She then
comes across a large hole in the sewer walls that appears to be where Susurro
would’ve been. Peering into it, a skeleton hand with flesh on it reaches out
then the person lifts herself out of it.
“You’re still alive,” Vera says
with some surprise.
“Haha, of course I am,” Belladonna
says.
Belladonna is still missing most of
her limbs with her body still all broken up, however, she’s managed to recover
some of her right arm. Vera transforms her hand and is ready to cut off Belladonna’s
head, but she doesn’t.
“What? Do you actually feel bad for
me?”
“No. I’m just sick of killing.”
“Ha, well I have to thank you for
killing Susurro. His body was blocking the sewage drain I was in. He didn’t
even body to move even as I was drowning. If you hadn’t killed him, I would’ve
died.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Wait, before you go, Susurro had
some more information on you. The sewage drain you dropped me in led me to one
of his secret rooms that kept his information. He knew more than he told me. Do
you care to hear what he knew?”
Vera sits down next to Belladonna
as she’s both curious and tired.
“He knew your darkest secret, the
reason why you were kidnapped, tortured, then thrown down here. It’s something
that even I didn’t do.”
“Just say it.”
With her hands already on her face,
Vera braces for what she knows is coming.
“Because you were such a horny slut,
you had sex with your three children. The neighbors and city watch caught part
of what was happening and when questioned about who started it, you said that
your children forced you to have sex with them. Since it’s an illegal act punishable
by death, all three of your children were executed while you were just sent to
jail for a few months. When that vigilante group figured out what really happened,
they paid your debt just so they could punish you in their own way.”
All her repressed guilt starts coming
back to Vera all at once as she begins to cry. She covers her face in shame and
curls up in a ball.
“I’ve seen some messed up sinners
in my time, but you’re something else. The only thing I did was I was the
mistress of the rich in the city. A lot of the rich children being brought up
now are mine. I brutally disciplined the men and women under me while doing
what I had to, to keep business running in our favor. When I got figured out by
the city government and the Church, everything crumbled around me and most of
everyone I knew got sent down here. I lived in a system of backbiters and
liars. You didn’t. You didn’t need to do anything you did, but you did it
anyway because you weren’t satisfied enough with your life.”
Vera wipes away her tears and
stands up.
“And you still think you can find redemption
for yourself. I read in the report that some of the people in that vigilante
group felt remorseful because they sometimes saw you praying at night, which is
funny because I didn’t hear that you were a part of any religion. Maybe your prayers
of guilt and sorrow actually reached out to God and that’s the reason why you haven’t
died yet.”
“The opportunity is there to pay
for my evils and I’m going to take it. I don’t care what you think.”
“Even I am not as prideful as you
when it comes to redemption. I’m scum and that’s all I’ll ever be. Since you’re
worse than me, what does that make you? You can just leave me here for all I care,
and I’ll be up and back at it in by the time you’re long gone.”
Feeling a weird sense of pity for
Belladonna, Vera picks her up and carries her.
“What? Are you going to throw me
into another sewage drain? Maybe throw me into a pile of trash or give me to a
pack of horny men?”
“No, I’m taking you down to the next
layer.”
“You’re what? I’ve told you that I’ve
already been down there, and I don’t want what they’re selling. You can’t force
me to make a decision.”
“I can try.”
“What? Do you pity me? No one
pities me!”
“I do now.”
“I’ll scratch your frigging eyes
out! No one pities me!”
Belladonna scratches at Vera’s face
and Vera cuts off Belladonna’s arm in response then continues carrying her.
“You bitch! Put me down! It must be
a pain carrying me with all the barbed wire on me. It’d be better if you just
leave me be.”
“…”
“Are you listening to me?!”
As she travels further down, Vera comes
across another settlement with people in it who are jealous of her. Since they
feel comfortable in their numbers, they begin beating on her as she passes by.
“Haha! Yes! Beat her up-hey-ow! Don’t
kick me! Ow! I’ll get you for this!”
Belladonna tries to bite at her
attackers while Vera keeps pushing forward until she leaves the settlement.
“What’s with you? Why didn’t you
try to defend yourself? You could’ve easily killed them all.”
“I deserved that. I don’t feel like
killing anymore.”
“Defending yourself isn’t anything
to be ashamed of, but what do I know? Are you serious about taking me down
there?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand you.”
“You’re like me and I’m like you. I
understand that now. If I can be redeemed, so can you.”
“No, I can’t! Let me go! Don’t you dare
take me down there! I’ll kill you!”
“Shut up already.”
Vera heads deeper into the sewer while
dragging Belladonna along with her.
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