our destination is uncertain

Chapter 3

This chapter was written by chillbirdi!

"Get out! I won't forgive you if you die!" Margeretha lies, but seeing her brother flinch for a moment has to be worth something.

It's been 2 weeks, he's been laying next to her for two weeks, only getting up to shower and eat. That's all he's been doing for exactly two weeks. It's something at least, he was sure Margeretha would kill him if she saw his hair acting as Popo's nest, which has happened a few times and everytime Eli recieved a pinch to his arm.

She looks so tiny. So small, unlike the stoic and reliable sister he always saw in her. Her skin is too pale and her body is too limp. She looks dead and he doesn't know what to do or how to think. But Eli decides to get some fresh air, just to clear his troubled thoughts. Popo stays with his sister, guarding her from potential harm and it gives Eli some comfort.

"Run far away from here! Win the game!" He wants to bash his head in to forget about the previous match.

Out in the garden, sitting on the fountain, the prophet still finds himself reminicising old memories. The memory when Margeretha left home, saying she'd go with her husband instead. When Eli found her in the game, the question about the man she loved was at the tip of his tongue. He stopped himself, it seemed to be a sensitive topic judging by his sister's more irritable mood.

The memories played out, each one overpowering the other until the last one left him cold. The sound of bones crushing left him cringing and his breathing is more ragged, the dried up blood acting as scars on his arms itched. Scars from Jack's blade. He reaches to scratch them but stops, internally scoldng himself. Instead, he rubs his hands together, tapping his feet as his nervousness continues to play with him.

Screeching metal rings in his ears and for a moment, Eli thought he was in a played out memory. But when he feels someone in the garden with him, his stomach twists.

"Why are you here?" He whispers and he thinks about saying it again from how ghost like it was. But he knows the hunter heard him when the response was a sigh. "That's no way to treat a guest at this manor." Eli feels laughter bubbling in his throat as he turns to look at the tall man. "A guest? I believe it's more of a wolf among a shepard's flock. You should go back to your room, sir. Your presence seems to deprive the flowers themselves." It's petty, it truly is, but Eli doesn't really care at this point. He knows his anger is justified. He knows he's starting something, but it's just the two of them, so why should he care?

"Quite the mouth, dear prophet. I wonder if your bite is as vicious as your bark." The man mused, leaning on the railing from the porch of the garden.

"Not a bark." Eli shakes his head, turning to look at the man. "A promise." The young man steps closer to the famed serial killer, reaching up to tear his blindfold away.

"I think I've been patient enough for one life time."

The air grows colder as the winds pass through the garden, rough and harsh. It felt like a snowy day from how cold it was. The sounds of the prophet's boots stop as he raises his hand towards the hunter, his eyes aglow with bright blue and red pupils. There's a caw of his owl as it feels an almighty presence it hasn't felt in a long time and Margeretha stirs in her sleep.

"Have you lost someone dear to you, Jack? I think you have."

Mary Kelly.

"Don't act as if you don't know."

Mary Kelly.

"Maybe reach into that damned head of yours. You might hear her voice."

Mary Kelly.

He has summoned the true Seer. The Druid sways around him, ghost like and promising. He whispers a secret to Eli and drops a handful of an owl's feathers around him.

"Mercy is something that you've run out of, Ripper." Eli snarls. The feathers find their way to Jack, swaying and falling to the floor. Recreating the memories Jack had kept away from his mind.

His final victim, Mary Kelly.

"I will forever follow you to the ends of the earth. You will never escape me. I will forever curse your name, Jack the Ripper."