Chapter 3: The Awakening

When Anne had finished her story, Jack was stumped for words. All made much more sense now, how his mother had always been so adamant about her lack of strength, how she always told him to never enter the ocean again and even why she and Edward had decided to leave behind the days of pirating and live in seclusion, as fugitives. But all that raised so many more questions. "Who was my biological mother? Why were the leviathans of the deep after us? And how was it all related to the cataclysm of floods of all those years ago?" Just thinking about these questions was making Jack's head hurt, when finally he was able to mutter something, it was a sacred and guttural response.

"A-Am I not... human?" He muttered.

"I don't know." Anne answered. "And I don't really care, I raised you to be one, so, no matter what happens to us, you must promise me to not let go of that humanity of yours, regardless of what you truly are."

"Don't tell me... the government is coming for you guys?!"

"Yeah it is."

"Then I'll fight with you!"

"You won't. The one who is coming to take us away is not someone any of us can handle, she's an S class who could kill us all with the snap of her fingers. But you have no fault in our past sins, plus, you must survive and uncover the mysteries of your birth as my instinct tells me it is related to the very survival of all humanity. But there is no more time. Just know that we love you and will always be with you in spirit." She got up and walked to the room's door, where Jack could see Ed waiting at the door with his most precious possessions in hand, his two intricately carved swords. They were ashen gray with intricate skull carvings on the blades and the hilt enveloped with sea monster hide. They gave each other a deep look and Ed approached.

"Hey kid, Anne said all we had to say basically, but also know that we have faith in you. We kept quiet as to not make you too prideful, but you have a true talent for combat, maybe it is your inhuman side, but the speed at which you understood our teachings was nothing sort of terrifying. Always trust that instinct of yours and it will get you far." Edward said as he handed him his swords. "They are yours now, try not to hurt anyone innocent with them, and when we are gone, go to the blood academy and look for a man named Mayfield, he will get you in there to finish your training." Tears streamed endlessly from Jack's face. "Keep your identity as ours and that mermaid's son a secret, as many might try and take advantage of that."

A loud banging began at the front door. Anne walked to the only wardrobe in the room and stood beside it.

"NO! I won't leave you guys alone! I will hel-" Before Jacks voice could go any louder, he was thrown by Edward into the wardrobe, which was opened and closed by Anne in an instant. "Stop this! Let me out, please!" He banged at the door, but Fortune had already tied a chain around and used her water powers to fuse it shut.

"Be quiet!" She yelled at him, using her bloodlust to suppress the teen's voice. "And don't worry, we have each other so well never truly be alone.

The banging at the front door mas substituted by a large crash, the door had been broken into.  The couple sat at the foot of the bed and embraced each other in a passionate kiss for a few moments until a large woman, almost 2.1 m in height, showed up on the door frame. She had a deep dark and long hair which went all the way to her waist, was wrapped from neck to toe in bandages and dark garments. In her hand was a great black war-hammer with wings carved on it's sides. Staring at the couple with fierce and resentful black eyes was a beautiful battle-torn and scar filled face. With a frown, she uttered:

"The famous Ed and Anne, first-mate and captain of the Fortune pirates who ravaged the sea before the great flood, never knew why you stopped just when your advantages on the sea grew larger. But to think that the murderers of my older brother would be living in a shitshack in the middle of nowhere all lovey-dovey."

"So you're that hammerhead's sister? "Huh. Fate sure is in the air tonight." Ed said nonchalantly.

"Yes, and I'm here to avenge him." She said this as she moved closer to the couple.

Anne raised an eyebrow. "Just like that?" she asked: " No trial or all of that usual boring bureaucratic shit?"

"You scum don't deserve any of that." said the mysterious girl.

"Indeed, but let me give you some advice, woman to woman... all that goes out comes back, and if you so choose to kill us here and now, that will eventually turn on you, and a fate much worse will come. We are prepared to face the consequences of our actions, are you?"

"There will be no consequences, for after you perish, no one shall be around to even remember who you were, much less connect me to your deaths."

"Oh, young one, the world will remember. Our love is proof of that." Edward replied with a sly but sad smile.

"How foolish, It's time we end this. Remember my name in the underworld, for it is Hella."  The hammer of wrath rose in the air. In that last split second, Anne and Ed gave a glance at the wardrobe and said together: "I love you!"

"No. No. No! NO!"  Thought Jack as he saw what he feared most. The hammer was enveloped in a powerful blue energy, striking the bodies of those he loved most. As Jack heard the horrible sound of metal hitting bone, blood spattered everywhere; gruesome cries rang in his ears as a feeling he had never felt before rose from the depths of his soul. Anger.

An anger so bloodthirsty and terrible that his entire worldview was crashing down. The teen punched and clawed at the unbugging door until his hands were bloodied and torn, much like the massacre happening in front of him. Animal like instincts of survival and rage kept swelling up inside him, but that was not all, as a different energy also trashed and turned, bringing unthinkable pain to every inch of his body as it spread. Many would know what that process was, the awakening... when one had drunk enough monster blood and absorbed a lot of its foul energy, new powers were born, or, as the name implied, awakened. But Jack knew none of that, in his entire life, he had never consumed even a drop of monster blood, and the reason for that was simple. Ed and Anne knew from the beginning that he already had beast blood in him,much more than any rich elite child could ever get their hands on, he was, without knowing it, the perfect specimen of a blooded being.

Outside of the closet of fear and pain, the woman had completed her task, her mission, and stood there for a few seconds in silence, wondering what their last words had been about."Who says I love you to their killer?" She pondered the things they had said before the end and wondered whether they were being sincere or just wanted to screw her mind up before dying. But something interrupted her thought process, a surging of energy she could barely understand, and it came from the very same room she was in. A quick scout told her it came from the closet, and holding tightly on her weapon, she approached the wardrobe while inside Jack saw something weird pop up.

It was a game window, much like those he saw on advertisements the few times he had gone to the city. But, unlike those, it was all glitched out, but he couldn't care less as the anger of having the one he most wanted to kill in the world standing right outside his hiding place was too much.

[Awakening Process]]

[4#$¨&* %]

[@#$$&@! Inherent Trait Computed]

[Extraordinary Blood Amounts Seen]

[*%#)(% Skill Added]

Hella stretched her hand toward the chains.

[Warning: Too much power is being assimilated by the host]

[Warning: The Skill *%#)(% Is Getting Out of Hand]

The cold blooded killer broke the chains easily, and was about to open the door when Jack finally reached his breaking point, he couldn't care less about the pain, about all those messages and symbols he couldn't understand. All he felt like doing was ripping the throat out of the person in front of him. So he made a choice, one based on instinct and one that would save his life from a terrible fate, he took the initiative and opened the door himself.

[Warning: Skill *%#)(% Has activated on it's own]

Hella stood outside the wardrobe, tense and perplexed, after what had happened inside. When she was about to open the door, it swung itself open with massive force, making her jump back a few meters on reflex, only to find herself standing face-to-face with an almost empty furniture piece shaking violently with only some clothes inside it.

"Was I... seeing things?" She wondered, but that feeling of something being horribly wrong stuck with her. "But that burst of blood energy was so intense... have their words really affected me that much?" Her preoccupied thoughts were becoming increasingly louder in the empty cottage until she was interrupted by a shy and somewhat afraid voice behind her.

"M-Miss Hella...?" She turned around to see a young, thin man in a black suit with worry stamped all over his face. "A-Are you done with the mission?"

Taking a couple of moments to calm her frenzied brain, she sighed and said:

"Yes. Let's go back to the agency and get that report done already. Just have some of your underlings investigate this place thoroughly to make sure we haven't missed anything."

"Is it really necessary in this rundown place?" confusion and a bit of laziness showing in his body language.

"Yes. I've got a bad feeling about this, and you know how good my instincts are."

He nodded and walked out of the hut, where a shiny silver spaceship with a world logo stamped on its side awaited patiently. Despite all of its luxuries and comforts catering to Hella's every need, a deep sense of unease pervaded her being. With another sigh, she tried to relax. "Well, at least I finally got my revenge, so this closure isn't all that bad." The airship flew into the dawn with its dark reflection shimmering in the dark, still, light-enveloped sea.