Hakuouki: Change of Fate

Modern Marvel

TRIGGER WARNING - Themes of suicide and depression.

Elena POV

"All done installing the new floors, Miss," the contractor told Elena.
Elena walked through her home and admired all the work that had been done. She had moved in here a little over a year and a half ago, right after she had left North Carolina. The rural countryside of Japan had an abundance of abandoned homes for sale, and Elena had more than enough money to fix one of them up.
She chose a secluded mountainside home overlooking a farming village. She had no neighbors, but essential amenities were a few minutes walking or biking away. She had built a friendly rapport with the town, hiring several local tradespeople to handle the renovations.
Work on the home was slow. Many things had to be brought in from the larger cities, a much more time-consuming task than it would have been had she been in the States. The wait was worth it, though. She had created a lovely blend of traditional Japanese culture and modern-day aesthetics.
She had kept the outer facade of the Minka-style farmhouse nearly identical to its original form. Only upgrading the thatched roof to tile and closing in the engawa with glass paneling. Inside, she restored the tatami flooring in the dining room and installed light hardwoods throughout the home. Elena opted to keep the traditional shoji dividers and fusuma-style sliding doors but Americanize the kitchen and bathroom.
Elena knelt at the edge of the dining room and ran her hand along the pristine cream tatami. "It's perfect."
"This house has been abandoned for a long time. I'm glad to see life breathed back into it."
"I couldn't have done it without the help of your men," Elena handed him the cash she owed.
"Give us a call anytime you need something done."
They exchanged a pleasant goodbye, and Elena walked him out. She had just turned away when a knock sounded at the door.
Elena reopened the door. "Did you forget-"
She trailed off mid-sentence. Elena had been expecting to see her contractor back at the door. Instead, Knox was standing in the entryway. Elena blinked, positive she didn't see things correctly.
"Surprise..." Knox smiled.
Elena looked around, taking note of the person still in the truck's passenger seat. "What the hell are you doing here? Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? And who is that in the car?"
"I need your help, and I couldn't risk calling."
"Are you sure you weren't followed then?"
"Erik's associates have been quiet for a while now. Our trail has long since gone cold, but, just to be safe, I didn't use commercial travel to get here."
Elena couldn't help but flinch at the sound of his name. The name of the man she had killed. She took one final look around the yard, scanning the treed and the dirt path leading to the town below.
"Get inside, both of you," Elena conceded. "I'll go brew some coffee."
Elena pulled out the kettle in the kitchen and began heating water for a pour-over. It took a few minutes before she heard Knox and his friend come through the door. She could hear his coaxing whispers from in the kitchen. Elena wasn't entirely sure what Knox's friend needed her help with, but they must be desperate to risk coming out here.
After the siege on Erik's facility Elena and Knox went into hiding. At first, it was a temporary precaution in case any evidence linked them to the attack. But, as it would turn out, the police wanted nothing to do with the crime. The government officials Erik was trying to sell his rasetsu army to were spooked by the idea. They had the entire investigation closed and the facility gutted in under a week.
The issue ended up being Erik's shady associates. Like any intelligent businessman, he had backup buyers, arms dealers, and warlords. Erik also had a partner who had been made aware of the oni's existence, particularly Elena's, and the keys her blood held. He didn't have nearly the diabolical reputation Carlson had, but he was hunting for Elena.
With contacts in private security, Carlson's associate hired some of the best private investigators to search for Elena. He wasn't the only one with connections, however. She had a new identity now, Ellie Veil, and all the documentation to prove it. Knox set her up with a few pieces of secure tech to help them stay in touch, but otherwise, Elena stayed off the grid. That and her rural home in a foreign country made her nearly impossible to track.
"I have some hooks by the door for your coat," Elena told the hooded stranger, hunched behind Knox.
"I'd rather keep it on for now, thanks."
Elena shrugged and continued fixing coffee. The stranger stayed glued to the entryway.
"Do you like creamer in your coffee?" Elena asked, hoping hospitality might put him at ease. "I have caramel and mocha...oh, and if you're feeling froggy, I also have some chocolate truffles you can drop in there too!"
"Black is fine," the stranger said.
"Simple man," Elena nodded and handed him a cup.
He accepted the offering, meeting her gaze for the first time. The cup slipped from Elena's hands and shattered on the floor. Both Elena and the stranger backed away from one another. Knox rushed between them, throwing up his hands in a peacemaking gesture. Elena barely noticed her friend; her gaze was fixated on the stranger's red eyes.
"Why the hell is there a rasetsu in my kitchen?!"
"I can explain," Knox pleaded.
"Then start talking."
"Last month, Iris flagged a police report in Dunn North Carolina. There was a double homicide with signs of cannibalism, and one of the witnesses swore the murderer had glowing red eyes. Thinking this could have something to do with the rasetsu, I investigated. Eventually, I came across Owen here trying to hang himself."
Elena's eyes cut to Owen, who was staring at his feet.
"I was an experiment of Erik Carlson's," Owen began, filling in the gaps in the story. "I come from a long line of Marine officers but could never enlist, thanks to a motorcycle accident at seventeen. Luckily this made me the perfect candidate for Erik's army." Owen rolled his eyes and took a sip of coffee.
"After I took the Water of Life serum, I could walk without pain. My strength was unreal, inhuman. But, it came at a cost...."
"The bloodlust," Elena said.
Owen nodded. "Training at that facility was brutal. Between the brainwashing and the experimentation...if killing us wasn't so damn hard, there's no way most of us would have made it through. One night, during a field simulation, something went wrong; the device they used to direct and keep us in line malfunctioned. Chaos broke out.
"Us mutants started killing off guards and turning on each other. The guards mowed us down with machine guns. Along with a few others, I aired on the side of self-preservation and ran. In hindsight, I probably should have let them kill me, less people would have died. I don't know who I was kidding trying to go back into the human race-I didn't mean to hurt those people. I swear I just couldn't make the hunger stop any other way!"
Elena placed her hand over the top of his. "Calm down, please. I know you didn't mean to hurt those people."
"If I could take it back, I would. I tried to make it right by taking my own life. That way, I could keep everyone safe, but I can't seem to die no matter what I do! What the hell kind of magic bullets did Erik Carlson have!"
"They're not magic bullets," Elena sighed. "It's about location. The only way to kill an oni or, in your case, rasetsu is piercing the heart or cutting off the head."
Owen's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates then he threw his head into his hands. "I'm a moron!"
"Yes, you are, but not for the reasons you think. Killing yourself won't fix your problems."
"You don't understand...."
Elena only wished Harada and Saito could see her now. She had made a lot of growth in the past two years and done a lot of healing. Her heart went out to Owen. Looking at him was like looking down at the start of the long, rugged path where her own journey had begun. It was a grueling road, and the beginning was always the hardest.
Elena closed her eyes and allowed herself to transform into her oni form. Owen turned the color of his hair. Knox, who had seen this change several times before, still looked at Elena with wonder.
"I do understand. I understand much more than you think."
Owen looked to Knox. "You didn't tell me she was a mutant too!"
"I prefer the term oni. Unlike you, I was born this way. My parents died when I was very young, and I was taken in by a human scientist who studied my blood and used it to create the Water of Life."
"Which brings us to why we came," Knox said. "No one knows their way around genetics and the Water of Life like you, Elena. Is there anything you can do to help him?"
Elena sighed. "It will be hard without any equipment...."
"You seriously think I came out here empty-handed? Just wait until you see what I could fit in the back of that thing."
"Well then, I suppose we better get to work."
Elena left Knox and Owen to set up the equipment in the dining room while she went into town for more provisions. Being alone for so long left her ill-prepared to host surprise guests. From her barren fridge to having only one futon; her accommodations weren't ideal. Elena took a small wagon down the mountain to try and find everything she would need to make her guest's stay more hospitable.
The town was quiet and slow-paced but also neighborly and welcoming too. Most residents had an amiable smile to offer her or a friendly greeting. Elena hadn't found it challenging to make a home here.
As she meandered down the paved road into town, she passed a landscape of shades of green and brown. Yellow-green sprouts stood in the murky water of the rice paddies from which the village branched out. Worn, traditional A-frame homes surrounded the farmlands leading to more modern shops and buildings the further you got into town. The paved road and mountain landscape filled in with spring green leaves, light pine, and rich moss hanging from worn brown trunks.
Elena started at the far end of the town, picking up salmon and bluefin from the local fishmonger. A short man with worn skin and scarred hands. He never smiled nor spoke much either, but every once and a while, he would throw in an extra fish free of charge, usually around the times when the guilt of what she had done gnawed away at her to the point that the thought of leaving the house and tracking down the mountain seemed unbearable.
Most of the time, Elena managed fine. Between home renovations and the bits of help she offered Knox, she had found a rhythm to her life. A distraction. But, every once in a while, in the quiet and the isolation, her past would overwhelm her. The roaring silence would reverberate off her walls, screaming she was a murderer. Echoing the sound of Erik's neck snapping beneath her grip. Sleepless nights would drag on, and her thoughts would replay that awful battle over and over.
She was ashamed to admit during those times, her self-care would fall to the wayside. It would start small; skipped showers or laying in bed all day telling her contractor she wasn't feeling well even though nothing was physically wrong with her. Then, those little actions would snowball into larger ones, like letting the fridge run barren and not going to town to replace it. Then the familiar numbness would set in.
Sometimes it would sit on her for a few days before releasing her. Other times it would choke out all emotions for weeks on end. She would try to 'snap out of it.' Damnit, she would try. She would tell herself each day that this one would be different. She told herself if she moved enough, prayed enough, did enough projects, smiled in the mirror long enough, she would feel something, anything but that buzzing hum of nothingness.
But it was never the case. Instead, the fog kept her in its grip until it was good and done with her. If she was being honest, Elena was just now coming out of an episode. About four days prior, her contractor, Mr. Ikeda, was using some new tool that whirred and made a high-pitched whine as it started up. It sounded exactly like the tool Erik used to control the rasetsu. Elena told herself she could shake it off and took her wagon to market. She was running low on food and needed to go that afternoon anyway.
She didn't even make it down the driveway before her cart rolled over a twig. It snapped, making a sound just close enough to the sound of breaking bones. To Erik's breaking neck. Elena left her wagon in the front yard, crawled into her futon, and cried.
Today was the first time she had come out of her room in three days. She drug herself through a shower and detangled the clustered mat that her hair had become. She had eaten the last remnants of her food that hadn't expired, and then Knox showed up.
Her mood was still fragile when Knox arrived and had tremendously improved in the short time he had already been there. This particular episode was one of her shorter ones, but still frustrated Elena. She had come so far in her healing but still stumbled like this! What did that say about her?
"Ellie!" Called a voice from up the road.
Elena turned to see Mrs. Ikeda, the contractor's wife, waving her down.
"Hello, Mrs. Ikeda! So good to see you," Elena greeted her, shaking off the remnants of her thoughts.
"I heard the renovations on your home were finished, and my husband said you are already hosting guests," her eyes fell to the futons in Elena's wagon.
"Yes, I have family visiting for a little while."
"I wish you would have told us. I would have had my husband finish things sooner, the lazy bones! I hope we didn't cause you any embarrassment."
"No, not at all! I honestly didn't know they were coming; please don't worry yourselves!"
"I'm glad to hear, dear. Hiroshi and I always worry about you up there alone on that mountain. Knowing you have some family up there, even for a little while, puts me at ease. You know there is nothing more important in this world than family."
Elena's chest ached. Things had been lonely up there, and the Ikeda family had been a ray of light and kindness.
"Thank you for everything, Mrs. Ikeda."
On the walk back up the mountain, Elena became exceptionally aware of her loneliness. She tried to will it away, saying she was surrounded by friends and support, but it was useless. It didn't matter that she had been in the presence of Mrs. Ikeda moments ago or that Knox and Owen were waiting at her house. None of them were the people who could truly make her feel like she wasn't alone.
None of them were Harada. Oh, how she longed for his comfort in the days after the battle. He knew the cost of war, the price of a life. He, too, had taken them. She wondered what advice he would offer her in her struggles.
Elena kicked a stone beneath her feet. It didn't matter. Her time with Harada was up. Time seemed to be Elena's ultimate gift and enemy. Her ability to wield and manipulate it brought them together that fateful day. Then she squandered it away, isolating herself, distancing herself from him, afraid that if she got too close, he would be ripped away from her like everything else she had dared to love. Time had separated them. Making them two completely separate beings that, despite being made for each other, would never truly work. The sacrifice of living in the time of one or the other being too great. Time was cruel. It marched on without any regard for feelings or human will. It gave no hint or warning it was running out. It simply did.
Elena shook her head back and forth, trying to clear it. She focused on her climb up the path. Allowing the task to smooth the delicate frays of her mood. She listened to the crunch of the gravel beneath her shoes and felt the pull of the wagon handle against her grip. She focused on the rice paddies sprouting off the cliff side below and the farmers hard at work tending to them. Anything to keep her mind from going back in on itself ...
Back home, Elena threw herself into her work. She spent the remainder of the afternoon and a good portion of the evening refamiliarizing herself with her mother's research. She looked up every article published and copied down any formula she could remember, only pausing to make dinner for everyone.
Elena didn't join Knox and Owen for the evening meal. She continued pouring over research, reading until her eyes were so heavy it was a struggle to keep them open. Elena wasn't sure when she had fallen asleep. She didn't have a clock, and she never stopped to check her phone. One moment she was sitting in the darkness of her dining room, staring bleary eyes at her computer screen; the next, she was jolting upright. Sunlight poured in through the large glass windows, and the smell of coffee and eggs made her mouth water.
Knox came to sit beside her, and the papers scattered across the dining room, handing her a mug. Elena forced her aching limbs into a sitting position and accepted the life-giving beverage. Owen came in behind Knox, balancing plates on his arms. Elena shoveled eggs in her mouth and picked up one of the reports she was reading over last night.
Knox stopped her, placing his hand over hers. "Breakfast first."
"I didn't finish my work last night."
"Sounds to me like you set your goals too high. We have time. Eat."
Elena took another sip of coffee. So far, her mood felt stable today. Granted, she had been awake all of five minutes, but still, this was a good sign. She relaxed and enjoyed breakfast with her companions.
"I got a good heading for us today, Owen; I'm going to need a sizable sample of your blood," Elena declared after breakfast.
"Want my right arm or my left?"
Elena pulled out a syringe and motioned with her hand, signaling for Owen to offer an arm. When she slid the needle in, he flinched.
"Sorry," she offered him a smile. "I never did learn the trick to making these things slide in easily."
Owen shrugged. "It's not like I have any other options right now. But...maybe we should have picked a day when you got more sleep."
"Also, not the worst suggestion," Elena laughed as she popped in another vial.
Elena had to hand it to Knox he supplied her with everything she could have needed to get started on the project. She still ended up needing to send him into the city to retrieve some chemicals and such, but nothing that slowed the project. It only took her a week to make a viable updated copy of what she had worked on with Sannan.
She could have done it faster, but she was nervous. Elena stared at the vial on her kitchen island and then back at her notes. She punched the math into a calculator for the thousandth time, rechecking it and finding its sound. Still, apprehension coiled in her gut. This wasn't like last time when Sannan was dead anyway if the serum didn't work. Owen had already been through so much; there was no room for error!
Elena rechecked her work again. She didn't make a mistake.
"You feeling up to testing the serum today?" Elena asked Owen.
Elena was sure if he had any pigment left in his skin, it would have evacuated. He shook his head.
"We have to try it eventually," Knox said.
"I don't want to hurt anyone...." Owen whispered.
Knox snorted. "Elena is the last person you need to be afraid of hurting. You should see what happened to the last rasetsu that tried to lay hands on her."
Now it was Elena's turn to grimace.
"Do you promise you'll kill me if things get out of hand?" Owen pleaded.
Elena shook her head, "No, I won't let things get that far."
She handed Knox a knife and nodded. Moving quickly so as not to give Owen a chance to protest or worry, he sliced open his hand. Owen gasped, then choked and covered his mouth in an attempt not to inhale the scent of blood. But it was too late. The frenzy began to take over.
His body went rigid, back hunching, fingers contorting into claws and ripping at his flash as he grasped at the remaining threads of his control. The gashes on his ashen skin turned bright orange and closed up as quickly as he could make them. Owen hissed and growled and coiled his body, ready to spring. Elena was ready for him.
When he launched himself at Knox, Elena was there between them. She grabbed Owen by the throat and slammed him to the floor, placing her knee on the center of his chest. Owen screamed and clawed at Elena but caused no damage she couldn't instantly heal from. As he threw his tantrum on the floor, she pulled out her syringe and stabbed him in the neck.
The effects were immediate. Owen's eyes went wide, and all the red drained from them, replaced with a rich sepia brown. His ashen skin regained its flush, and his white hair turned back brown. Owen's body went slack, no longer fighting her, and Elena let him up. Owen stayed down for another few minutes.
"See," Elena took in a shaky breath. "We didn't let it get to that point...."
Owen shook his head and closed his eyes, exhausted.
When he finally regained his strength to stand, Knox walked him over to a mirror. Owen stared at his reflection for a long time, mouth agape. He touched the glass as though he wasn't sure if it was showing an accurate reflection then he felt his face.
"I'm me again!"
"For now, the serum allows you more control in switching between your human and rasetsu form. Blood can still trigger a transformation, though."
"I never thought I'd see my human face again. Thank you, Elena, thank you so much!"
"I've made enough to get you through two months. I'll set up something with Knox where you can receive a regular supply to keep the symptoms at bay. In return, I want you to keep sending me blood samples."
"What for?"
"Because I'm not going to stop at curing your bloodlust Owen. I'm going to find a way to turn you back to human."
* * * *
"What are you going to do with your newfound freedom?" Elena asked Owen.
Owen shrugged as he rolled his suitcase towards the door. They had already said their goodbyes and worked out the finer details of exchanging blood and serums. Now it was time for him and Knox to be on their way.
"Knox asked for my help looking for others like me. I'm not the only one who escaped the lab that night; maybe more survived."
Elena smiled. Knox didn't necessarily need Owen's help tracking down rogue rasetsu. He would more than likely need several months of training before being useful. However, giving him a new goal and purpose would help Owen heal.
"If you find anyone send word, and I'll send out extra doses of the serum."
Owen gave a nod.
"Speaking of Knox, have you seen him?"
The crinkle in Owen's brow said he didn't know where Knox had gone off to. Elena hadn't heard the door open, so she surmised he was still in the house. He was. She found Knox meandering through her bedroom, observing the barren walls and unpacked suitcase with narrowed, inquisitive eyes.
"Can I help you find something?" Elena asked.
"The rest of the empty house makes sense; I saw the contractor; you've been renovating. Why is your luggage still not unpacked, though?"
"It's just where I keep my things."
Knox slid back the door recessed into the wall. "Ever heard of these wonderful inventions called a closet?"
"Things have been busy, and moving in took a back seat."
"I can understand that to some degree, but it's been over a year, and it still looks like you got here yesterday Elena...."
Elena shooed Knox from her room. "I'm just missing a few pieces of furniture, Knox; you need to relax."
"Elena, I'm about to leave, and I don't feel comfortable setting off knowing you're living like this."
"Give it a rest, will you?" She snapped.
"This goes beyond a few pieces of missing furniture, and you know it. You think I didn't notice the bruises under your eyes or the barren fridge when we first came?"
Elena didn't answer; she continued her path toward the kitchen.
"We could have talked if something was bothering you," Knox called after her. "That's why I put all that effort into setting up that phone for you."
"I didn't want to talk."
"Right, you wanted to be all alone up here in your mountain house in the middle of nowhere Japan-"
"I didn't want to talk to YOU!" Elena finally blurted out.
Knox stayed silent.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
"I know what you meant," Knox held up a hand as though to stop her words from reaching him. "You're still stuck on that Harada guy."
Elena nodded. "I've tried to move on, Knox. I swear it, I've tried. But every time I think I'm ready to move on, I just can't. I don't want to make a home without him."
"Do you really love him?"
"Living without him is killing me."
"Then don't live without him."
"And what do you suggest I do exactly," Elena threw her hands in the air. "Waltz back into 1867 and take him back home with me?!"
Knox pulled out his phone and typed on it briefly, then handed her an article on Sanosuke Harada of the Shinsengumi "July of 1868, actually."
"You've Googled him?"
"I don't want to talk about it... Harada dies of some fatal wound acquired during the Battle of Ueno. It says it takes him two days to die here, which leads me to believe that modern medicine could most likely save him."
"I could take him out here and not mess up the timeline...."
"Theoretically, at least."
Elena stared at the phone. Could it really be that simple?
"You deserve to find happiness, Elena. Harada brings out something in you that no one else can... I think he's good for you."
"That means a lot coming from you."
Knox leaned in, pecked Elena on the cheek, and then he was gone. Elena wandered her empty home. She scowled at the barren walls and the luggage stuffed into the corner of her bedroom. Mrs. Ikeda's words echoed in her mind, calling her to action; 'there is nothing more important in this world than family.'
Elena threw open her suitcase, tossing around her clothes until she came across her old kimono.