Chapter Text
“How many times do I have to remind you? Forget all the useless flourishing and just go for the heart! The heart!” Valencina screams at her severely wounded apprentice, hoping the grey-haired boy will be able to pull one last attempt at subduing the enemies standing in front of them, even when the obvious threat is the man with that gaze, who has managed to almost wear out her relic.
Despite being drained of all his energy, Lucio entered his fighting stance once more, mustering every last ounce of strength to make his move.
“I've always known that this day would come…” He didn’t lie, he knows there is no way he would survive this fight, but…he held on hope that he at least gets to see his Nursefather taken out first, if he wasn’t the one who kills her.
He made a dash for it.
“Stab the heart in front of you! Stab that bastard's heart! Now!” She still commands ruthlessly, Lucio wishes he could shut that mouth up himself, just like he heard what Yoshihide did to the Pinky Nursefather.
In the final moment, Lucio saw it, his own heart was outside his chest, outside his body, before his entire vision turned dark…
…Until it wasn’t anymore, Lucio opened his eyes, wondering what happened. He knew that he saw his own heart being stabbed by his opponent, right out of his ribcage, he doesn’t know if there is any life insurance advanced enough to resurrect him from the state of death, or why would anyone spend the ludicrous amount of money to resurrect someone like him.
He gets up to his feet, looking around, there aren’t any signs of machines or wires hooked up to him to preserve his life, he doesn’t feel woozy, or hurt like he would expect from surviving such a fatal wound, it seems like all his wounds from the fight just…healed.
He doesn’t see the Head coming to claim he broke a taboo and takes his life, so he assumes whatever happened to him or wherever he is right now still abides by the laws of The City. He looks around, The floor he is standing on is painted in gray, no footsteps, no signs of anyone here but him. The walls, though, are a mix of red and gray, with no consistent patterns, just hues of red and gray on them, and standing in front of him…is a gate.
Looking at the gate brings him a sense of…comforts, it has patterns to it, it looks like it was made and painted by another person, with a few human body parts and it could be considered a craft by the Ring, he never understands those psychopaths’ idea of art, seen by his avoidance of the Ring apprentice, not like she would spend time with any other apprentice anyway.
He pushes through the gate, his swords at the ready to retaliate any hostile threats behind those doors. Pushing the gate open, his eyes wander to find any living person here, but all he sees is…spaces. The floor is still there, but beside the wall where he came though, there is no wall on the other side, it seems as though the room is too big for him to see the end of the other side.
Walking through this room, Lucio feels unease, the room seems infinite, and the gate he came through is slowly slipping out of his vision. He shouldn’t be surprised by this, after all, the House of Spiders is located inside a corridor, and he never understood or tried to understand how they function, it wasn’t a problem to him when Valencina was constantly keeping him on his toes.
After 10 minutes of treading the white void, Lucio starts to panic, he draws his sword as he finally calls out “Hello? Is anybody here? Hello?” He shouts to the void.
Seeing that no one is answering, he starts running as fast as he can, this place doesn’t make any sense, where is this place? Is this some sort of elaborate experiment his enemy is doing on him after reviving him? Is he still in the House of Spiders?
After 5 more minutes of running with nothing in sight, he stops, not because he is tired, in fact, he hasn’t felt tired or hungry ever since he got here, which makes him even more confused. He has body enhancements just like any other city dwellers who want to live in its harsh environment, but his bodily function is still active, he hasn’t replaced his need to sleep or eat like what he heard the rich folks do.
“Hello? ANYONE THERE?” He shouts as loud as he can, which is a rare sight, since he has learned to be composed and stable even in the worst situation, something he naturally picked up from living with his master.
“Hwell I”ll be!” a voice cries out from behind him, Lucio draws his swords and swings them directly at the source before his blades get blocked by the man’s very own sword. “Relax your arms kiddo,this ain’t the place to get hackin at any living thing ya sees” the man says as he casually knocks the swords out of Lucio’s hands, which does nothing but makes him more alert.
Lucio jumps back, taking a look at the man in front of him before immediately bowing his head down, keeping his eyesights away from him. I’m so dead, he thinks to himself, taking it as a fact more than anything, the man Lucio just tried to cut down, is a Capo of the Thumb, and what Lucio just did is beyond any punishment, that behaviour warrants an immediate execution according to the Thumb, Lucio closes his eyes and waits for his imminent death.
The man sees Lucio’s behaviour, lets out a small laugh and lights a cigar before opening his mouth “Geez louise, even in death ya thumb folks oughta stick by your dumb hierarchy, y’all loyalty can only be matched by the Index to their Prescript I reckon” he lets out a puff from the cigar before approaching Lucio “Chin up kiddo, I ain’t killin ya, and even if I wanted to, not like ya could die twice, know what I mean?”
Lucio hears the words before comprehending them “What do you mean I’m dead, sir?” he asked, still not looking into the man’s eyes.
“Ya heard me right, we’re good as dead kiddo, and none of that sir bullshit, already enough of that during my time with the Thumb, Lei Heng's the name, and there's no other name I'd rather go by. Folks don't got the spine to call me that, though, afraid their tongues gonna get cut clean from their mouths. Back to main business, ya ears are working perfectly, we’re dead, and apparently this is where we get sent” He says all of that with a straight face “I already stopped trying to make sense of it.”
Lucio…doesn’t like this man. His overly-friendly manner reminds him of the Middle Nursefather, and Lucio remembers how friendly and loving Matthias was to his apprentice, always showering Kira with all sorts of gifts and toys, but Matthias couldn’t even pick up the simplest signs that he was neglecting his own daughter’s feeling, and how that makes her feel like she has to act cool to get an ounce of his affection, guess that’s one good thing about having to live with Valencina, Lucio never had to act like something he wasn’t to get her attention, she gave him plenty of attention alright.
“So, this is where people go when they die? Because if that’s the case,sir, I would expect a lot more people to be in this… empty void” Lucio asks a question that makes sense, this is the City after all, the tragedies happening here every day aren't exactly subtle.
“I had the same questions, but after talking with the other folks that also ended up here, I think I connected the dots already, tell me kiddo.” Lei Heng seems very proud to make the discovery. “Did you die as a result of going against Yoshihide’s crew? Them folks who travelled with her and the ticking clock head? Did ya die from them or anyone helping their factions?”
Lucio very much remembers when he dies, it’s a pretty important moment if anything, he saw his heart stabbed right through him by the old guy with the old G Corp prosthetic arms “Yes I did, what does that have to do with anything?”
“Hwell…after some unpleasant exchanges with the folks ‘ere, the only folks interested in talking was the lady with yellow flowers growing from her eyes, and another crazy lass from N Corp talking about humanity and all that bullshit, only things I got from both of ‘em is that they also kicked the bucket going against Yoshihide’s gang, always knew something was up with that person with the clock for a head,I oughta tell ya, I seen some pretty crazy regenerating tools in my days, but that clock person was straight up reviving them during our fights, but it wasn’t since we didn’t get annihilated by the Head.” Lei Heng finishes his monologue while Lucio is still comprehending the fact that he is dead.
Seeing that Lucio is looking lost as ever, Lei Heng sighs loudly before deciding to give the boy some straight up proof, he takes his gunblade to Lucio’s chest and pulls the trigger, causing a BANG! that snapped Lucio out of his daydreaming.
After the dust settles, and yep, Lucio didn’t sustain a single injury, not even a crease on his shirt. “See lad? That shot woulda kill anyone, not even sure if a grade 1 fixer can survive that, and look at ya, all fine and dandy.” Lei Heng says and lights another cigar.
Lucio already puts away most of his doubt, but he still can’t accept the singular fact that he is dead, years of his life spent on mastering the techniques Valencina taught him, all the physical and verbal abuse he endured from her, all of it to become a textbook for Yoshihide...After all that and he was still nothing compared to her, after all of it and he died not even by her hands.
He has to admit how pathetic his life was, all the way up until his death. And now, he feels...unsatisfactory. His usefulness has run its course, he has nothing left to contribute, he doesn't get it, he is now free from the hands of his master, and yet, he doesn’t know what to do, he never imagines his life beyond rotting in the House of Spiders.
After a while of contemplating, Lucio finally speaks “So…what am I supposed to do now? What is there to do in this place?”
“Ooh, let me tell ya boy, a lot, hell, I woulda die faster if I knew about the existence of this place, I’ll show ya”