The Fun Part

“I don’t understand,” Akemi said from beneath her mask. She was dressed in the traditional Hidden Blades uniform, kept a shadow by the darkness of the forest in which she found herself. She’d lost track of Willet throughout the day, and when she finally found him again he was tied to a tree and gagged, with a pin shoved in his chest, which held a note that said “Rot in Hell, Trevor”. “What is this supposed to do?” She asked. She looked him over. Whoever had tied him up had slit his forearms horizontally, in an apparently weak attempt to make it look like he had killed himself. Except this whole situation was absolutely amateur hour. Why would someone tie themselves up to kill themselves? Why would they gag themselves? Why all of this? “How many fucken girls did you screw over, man?”

As she cut Trevor down, she let him down to the ground slowly and said, “Here, let me help you,” She wrapped one arm around him and placed her fingertips on his collarbone, propping him up carefully against her as she pulled the pin out of his chest. “Little boy, whoever you pissed off was really good at being mad but really bad at long term planning,” He let out a hissing sound as she removed the pin “Don’t be a baby.” She took his forearms and began healing them with some of the medicinal toxins that flowed through her magic, clearing up the cuts on his forearms. “Thankfully you didn’t bleed much on your clothes. It’ll just look like you stumbled before you landed here.” As the wounds healed up, leaving not so much as a scar, she reached behind her and pulled out a small syringe.

“Mufhmaht?” Trevor asked. His mouth was still gagged.

“It’s a syringe. You know, like for injections.” He mumbled in panic, attempting to squirm. He didn’t squirm much, however, which seemed to surprise him, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to use this to put anything in you. See? It’s empty. We’re just going to put it in your hand like this—” She placed it in his other hand, “And luckily the pin will make it look like you injected it into your own chest. It seems like you'd cry if I stabbed you again.”

“Hhfhfh? Fhhyfahffifoof?”He seemed to be trying to squirm away from her, whether to try to drop the syringe or escape or even talk.

“Because low doses of Strychnine cause cramping and stiffness.” She explained smoothly, letting him go against the tree trunk, “And that’s what you chose to kill yourself with. Alright we should be about there.” She pulled the gag from his mouth.

“What are you t-t-t—“ He began to jerk and shake.

“Settle down. Those are the muscle spasms. I was being honest, you know. I didn’t inject anything into you with a syringe. I’ve been poisoning you since I put my hand on your neck. Good thing it was so close to a major vein too, I did not want to keep touching you like that." She showed him her gloved fingertips, which were still glowing a sickening green with magical poison, "You’re scum, buddy. Breaking a young girl’s heart like that. More than one, it would seem. By the way, the Strychnine? It’s going to start hurting as it takes away each and every one of your autonomic functions. Breathing goes nuts, heartbeat stammers like a teenager on their first date. Except, you know, instead of a nervous handjob, you're gonna die.” She relaxed down next to him, patting him on his leg. His muscles jerked and rebelled. “But seriously, folks. You are going to suffer a painful, quiet death. And with the amount I put in you? Juuust enough to be lethal. Closer to thirty minutes of it. Then it’ll look like you killed yourself after one of your lady-friends broke your heart.” She crumpled up the note that had been pinned to him, tore it up a bit (to remove the blood and pin marks) then put it in his other hand, closing it hard into a fist.

She took a deep breath then looked under her forearm armor guard for a watch. “Damn. You know, I’d really love to be here to see you take your final breath.” She stood up and dusted herself off, “But I gotta go register this job as finished. Gonna try to give Penelope some closure to all of this too. Least she deserves. Don't want her pining over a useless corpse.”As she began to leave, she turned around while walking as though she’d remembered some advice, “And hey, don’t even think about getting to safety! There’s no known antidote! But make sure your last thoughts are of whoever fucked you over, okay? You deserve this!” She gave a multi-fingered wave as she disappeared into the darkness.