Chapter Text
There was nothingness, complete abyssal blackness surrounding everything.
Then came a gentle breeze.
A scent of flowers, trees, and earth.
The sounds of leaves rustling and dancing against the wind.
Soon, the world around began to reveal itself. The Hunter’s Dream. A place where hunters go when in a death-like state. A place that seemed to ignore all passages of time.
Zack laid there in the thick patch of grass, he had an exhausted look on his face as he came to, and eventually sat up. He glanced around the familiar area, then to his side, Rachel wasn’t there. He grit his teeth in frustration as he hung his head.
“Are you looking for the girl?”
Zack quickly raised his head up, it was Gray again.
“No need to panic…she’s here…she arrived here before you did,” Gray spoke.
Isaac felt a sense of relief, he habitually pulled his face mask back up, the fabric seemed to be no longer dyed crimson from the blood he had shed, to his surprise. The man wanted to stand up, but felt himself struggle as he tried to get onto his feet. He felt the older man carefully help him up, but he almost stumbled back onto the ground from his strange sense of footing. Zack glanced down and saw a metal prosthetic in lieu of his leg.
“You both almost succumbed to your injuries, they were quite grave. The messengers have gotten you two just in the nick of time…” Gray said. “It seems the two of you have overcome quite a nasty obstacle.”
“Obstacle…yeah,” Zack said, “Biggest damn hurdle we had to jump over. I promised her that we would leave that town together.”
“You both seem to want to stay together,” the older man spoke.
Zack was quiet for a moment, then quietly chuckled to himself, “Yeah, shit…that wasn’t who I was back then, ‘til she came along. Being seen as something else besides a monster, after overcoming this madness together, I found a new purpose in life, I guess – nah…we both did.”
“Would you mind if I made you a proposition?”
Zack turned to Gray, raising an eyebrow.
“You both seem to desire a life of peace together, if you want. I can abdicate my role as host of this dream and pass it along to you and that woman. This place will be your haven for all time, a quiet place with no rules of time to govern it. You may also pass on your knowledge of fighting to other hunters if you pleased,” Gray said.
Sounded tempting, yet, it was too tempting. It was time to stop accepting alternatives.
Zack likely shook his head, “Thanks, old man, but no thanks. It would be a nice life n’ all…but it really wouldn’t be living, ya get it? Life’s always been full of surviving different kinds of bullshit, good or bad. A place where nothing happens, shit, that’s hardly living at all. A dream. I’d rather be awake.”
Gray remained quiet for a moment, then quietly laughed to himself, “That’s a very human answer. Yes, life is full of conflict, but that’s the burden we all carry for living. Adversity is what makes us all stronger. I admire your answer, and will reflect on it. The woman is in the field, underneath the great tree. I wish you both a prosperous future.”
Zack smirked, then lightly tapped the older man’s shoulder as he made his way to the garden.
“See ya’ later, Gray…”
The young man followed the vegetation covered cobblestone path down to a set of iron gates, beyond the gates was a massive flower field, Zack pulled the mask down and took a deep breath. He quietly walked through the gates and made his way through the field of flora. In the distance, he can spot a figure sitting underneath a massive tree, he knew it was Rachel waiting for him.
Each step drew him closer to the woman, and watched her turn her head to lock eyes with him. Zack brought his hand up to pull the hat off his head, he wanted her to see him entirely. Rachel stood up as Zack continued to walk up to her, the two quietly gazed at one another for a moment, then brought themselves in a tender embrace.
The two sat underneath the massive tree, fingers laced together as they watched the flowers and plants sway about in the breeze, it was comfortably tranquil.
“Hey Ray, I promised that I would tell you everything about me…” Zack quietly spoke, “We have all the time in the world now, so…what do you want to know?”
“Everything…”
So, Zack began to recount to her his life experience. Grim it may be, he knew she wanted to know everything about the man she was going to travel with for the rest of her life – and he desired to know more about her too.
He shared his rough childhood, growing up with a call woman for a mother, being abandoned after getting torched, to festering away in an unregulated orphanage. Clearly the man had been through so much, it was no wonder he became the person he is.
“Yeah, my mother didn’t want me in the beginning…but…most women like her tend to leech off the city’s funds. Tell ‘em you’re a hard-working single mother or a widow and you get stipends,” Zack spoke, then continued in a mocking tone, “to ‘ensure the child grows to be a valued member of society’. Ha, valued indeed. Kept my unwanted ass around for that free money. Then after that shit…you know…with the fire…she chose to dump me in the Orphanage than to keep my charred carcass around.”
The man leaned back against the tree and sighed to himself over the memory, “Shit, Ray…I know what it’s like having a new pain every day. Getting smacked around by kids and adults. Starvation was the biggest one of all. Lots of kids, even babies dropped. I got clever and began to steal food in the cover of night.”
Zack even told her his muse that drove him to become a killer.
“One night, I was out stealing some food. Fuck, I was really starving that night…” he prattled, “scarfed down the biggest loaf of bread I could smuggle. Then I heard this loud fucking scream in the back alley. Almost choked on the damn thing. As a kid, I was stupidly curious, and there I saw some broad getting ripped apart. I kept the fuck quiet, but I couldn’t turn my eyes away. I could feel the aggression in the air and smell the fear coming from that woman as she was breathing her last. The guy seemed fucking rapturous, biggest god damn grin on his face. Shit, it looked so easy to do, so easy to just hurt those who hurt me. I felt this…spark of inspiration.”
Zack brought his free hand up to glance at it, remembering that night, “I waited for everyone to go to sleep, then I quietly walked into the kitchen, grabbed the biggest fucking knife my small hand could wield. Then went to town. Started with the head mistress, she was a real piece of shit, I hated her fucking guts. It was a messy attempt at first, eventually learned that throat slitting snuffed them out quicker. Stabbed them later.”
He told her the times where he felt good - but not happy, his regrets, even his sorrows that he always kept hidden. The woman would attentively listen.
“I get nightmares from time to time, sometimes I ponder if killing the kids in the Orphanage was right too. Yeah, they were just as cruel, but, fuck…they were still kids,” Zack said, “No…no…they would’ve died anyway. Even if they lived, they’d probably be just as fucked up as I…less fucking dregs in this world.”
Then came how he came to accept the job as a hunter, “After growing up the way I did, the shit I’ve done, I eventually got caught gutting an off-duty constable. It was only then I took their offer after execution was their best sentence instead of just leaving me to rot in their prisons.”
Zack sighed to himself, then glanced down at the woman beside him, “I know you told me a bunch about your past. You gave small details about your parents before that whole beast thing.”
Rachel looked away for a moment as she drifted into memory lane, “My parents weren’t exactly the nicest of people behind closed doors. My mother and father fought every night, and often pinned the blame on me for their grief. My father liked to drink, a lot. I think, when he had to volunteer to be a hunter, that must be when he started showing signs of change. None of us noticed it as first, but when that one night fell. I heard my mother scream for her life.”
“Yeah, he became a beast, I remember that…”
Rachel lightly nodded, “Ripped my mother to shreds, I found him feasting on her before he locked eyes on me. A child shouldn’t have faced such a thing alone. I tried everything to keep him away, chairs, tables, even knocking over the cupboard. It was only then I found a pistol hidden away in a drawer when I thought of tossing that at him.”
“That’s the gun you always carried, right?”
“Yeah…after I shot my father, I kept it close. I just couldn’t feel safe without it,” Rachel replies, “Even during my times in the convent, I secretly practiced with it.”
“Did you choose to be a Blood Saint?”
Rachel thought about the question, “Not really. With the people’s fear of me being infected with beasthood, the church just saw me as an example to give me a second chance with their Healing Blood. To ‘purify’ me. I kept being told that being a Blood Saint will be for the good of the people, and that we will win against the beast scourge.”
“Fucking propaganda…” Zack grumbles.
“Yeah, I was young and believed them. I felt like my useless self could actually have some worth if I helped the needy with my blood alone. Those transfusions though…” Rachel said with a sigh, “god they were awful…I felt chills and burns as they drained my blood to replace it with Old Blood. I just wanted to die because the pain was so unbearable. It didn’t feel right inside me.”
“So how come the rest of your group treated you like shit?” Zack asked.
“…Most…potent Blood Saints come from a high blooded family. I’m of a low blood,” Rachel replied. “Low blooded Saints are often frowned upon. Placed on the very bottom of the Church hierarchy. I was positioned to handle the townsfolk while they worked more inside the Cathedral to take part in communion. Low blood such as mine is considered inferior and weak.”
Zack glanced at his hand where Cathy once stabbed him, not even a scar was left, “They’re wrong as fuck though. They just refused to see your potential, Ray.”
“I think this whole world refused to see our potential, Zack…”
“Heh, I can’t argue with that…” Zack chuckled. “Fuck, at least we’re not blind to see it.”
Sharing their past and woes felt very therapeutic, like every burden they spoke about was gradually lifted off of their shoulders. They were equals to one another, Rachel was this former holy woman that became very dear to him, and Zack was a sinful killer that began to shine what little fragments of good was left in his soul, thanks to this very woman.
“What do you think will happen when we leave? Like with Eddie and the other townsfolk?” Rachel asked.
“Hell if I know, that’s for them to decide. Eddie looks like a bright kid, seems to know what he wants best for everyone. I’ll admit, I can admire that shit,” Zack replied. “As you said before, if they want to leave, they leave. Or they can stay and try and salvage what kind of life they have. If I can even call that a life…all that shit we’ve seen.”
“Yeah…the Church hides so many dark secrets from them…” Rachel mumbled, “I wonder if Daniel and Cathy were in on their scheme as well.”
“Most likely, but then again, I don’t fucking know what goes on in their heads. They were definitely in some whole other game, Ray…” Zack quickly replied. “They’ve done even more fucked up things involving that crazy fucking moon and ‘gods’. Now that bastard is dead and won’t be doing that anymore. Ugh…and no more of those creepy baby things either…”
“I should hope so,” Rachel said. “For people to become experimented on for so long…I hope the influence of the Church diminishes.”
“Well, you snapped out of it,” Zack replied, “but crowds of people take forever to convince, ya know? That’s for them to decide though. You’re living your life now as you see fit. Worry more about that. Whatever will happen in Yharnam will stay there, that’s their own problem to solve.”
He then remembered the key he tossed, “If that Eddie kid gets curious again…hopefully he finds that key in the tower near the Upper Ward. I didn’t chuck it so secrets like that would get locked up again.”
With an honest soul like the young boy in the Chapel, who only wanted to do good for the wellbeing of the people, maybe he could influence them in a better direction. Zack and Ray could only hope.
Zack brought his free hand back down, plucking at one of the many flowers surrounding them. It appeared like a type of lily, yet its pale color reminded him of the glow of a full moon. The man glanced at the woman from the corner of his eye, then slid the bloomed plant into Ray’s silken hair. He couldn’t help but laugh at her flustered expression.
Time was nonexistent in a dream. Right now, it was a time for peace, bonding, and togetherness.
“Hey Ray…”
“Hmm?”
“I think I’m about ready to wake up, are you?” Zack asks.
Rachel lightly nods, then felt his hand touch her cheek, her eyes gazed up at the man and watched as he drew close.
Their lips met, albeit briefly, his approach was much more tender this time.
“For luck,” he whispers as he pulled away.
Luck, something for the both of them once they leave the dream together, once they explore the world around them together. Something to aid them in their long future.
Soon, the world around them grew hazy as the two succumbed to the spell of awakeness.
Zack slowly opened his eyes, dawn had already broken in Yharnam. His body felt awfully sore, but it was to be expected, almost relieving, for the pain told him that he was still alive. To his surprise, they were no longer in the flower bed on top of the Upper Ward, but at the very foot of the city’s gates. His eyes wandered down to see Rachel in his arms, he could feel her breathing so calmly against him, and gently ran his fingers through her hair as he waited for her to wake up as well.
Soon, Zack began to hear footsteps, his bi-colored eyes glanced upwards as he pulled his face mask up, he saw a person approaching from the distance. A man covered in crow feathered garb was quietly making his way towards the city, but Zack could see him wearing a large emblem of sorts. It was a symbol of his old hometown.
They sent someone to collect his corpse.
Zack glanced at the woman for a second, then gently laid her onto the ground while he stumbled a bit to stand up, he still wasn’t used to having a false leg.
Once the man approached Zack, he seemed rather surprised.
“Isaac Foster, I presume? So, you managed to survive?”
“Barely, you here to finish the job?” Zack grumbles.
“That depends, do you have the sample?”
Zack grunted as he dug into his pockets, “Yeah I got it…one second.”
Soon, he pulled his hand back out to deliver the man a middle finger.
“Tell those lying sacks of shit to fuck off,” he huffed. “I’m a free fucking man whether they like it or not…”
The man didn’t seem very amused, “That’s a shame…”
The man pulled out a short sword and broke it into two daggers, Zack just stood there defiantly with a proud grin on his face. The supposed assassin readied himself for an attack, but saw that Zack was making no means to defend himself. An easy kill.
Or so he thought.
As soon as he charged, he felt his blades hit against metal, he saw a woman standing in front of Zack, and that his weapon collided against her cleaver.
The man had the look of shock on his face as he was caught off guard, “You have allies?”
Zack smirked as he swiftly grabbed the man’s wrist with one hand, keeping him from attacking with the other blade. Then he reached for the holster with the other, pulling out a small pistol, and placed the firearm at the man's temple.
Bang!
The man simply collapsed to the ground, Zack knelt down to loot the carcass of his weapons, taking both of the blades and snapping back into a single short sword to carry it easily. He also picked up whatever bullets the would-be assassin had on his person, then casually tossed the pistol to Rachel. She was definitely a better shot than him and felt more deserving of it.
“That’s that…” Zack mumbled, then stood back onto his feet. “We still make one hell of a team, heh…”
Rachel smiled to his comment as she put her weapons away, “Where to?”
“Where ever the hell we feel like, Ray,” he responds, “We’re free to go anywhere. Away from Yharnam, away from my home. Hell, a whole new country if we felt like it. As I said before, if anyone wants to get in our way…I’ll cut them down.”
The man glanced to his hands, remembering the claws that protruded from his bandages during the final fight with Daniel. Both Zack and Rachel still had the supposed “Healing Blood” coursing in their veins.
“Hey Ray…I thought of something…” Zack mutters.
The woman glanced to him curiously, “What is it?”
“We might be the only ones to actually leave the way we are…this blood in us that my old town was after,” he murmured, “Blood that heals at the cost of turning people into fuckin’ beasts. Let’s swear that wherever we go, Ray…this secret will die with us, alright?”
Zack had a point, the pair wouldn’t want to bring a scourge upon a whole new civilization, even a rebirth of demented rituals. The Old Blood and its properties will stay a secret between them and hidden away in the depths of Yharnam for good.
This was an oath to keep.
“I swear…not a single soul will know. This is going to stay between the two of us,” Rachel replied. “We’re living the life of humans after all, aren’t we?”
Zack smiled faintly from her answer – humans, not beasts. A chance to try and live a new and possibly normal life. This was a true alternative to freedom.
“Good girl…now, let’s be on our way…”
Isaac reached a hand out to Rachel, feeling her grasp it without hesitation, and the two began their new journey down the road. A former Hunter and a former Saint. They had left behind all traces of their past behind them, each and every second of it all was spoken out and cast off in the dream. What mattered now was the future ahead of them, the places they would go, and the life they would choose to live.