(A/N)
Hello everyone! Well, I'm going to make this short, so pay attention, please! For this story, I want to make this story a bit more... realistic(?) From Raphtalia's treatment within slavery and Naofumi's reaction to the betrayal that he's faced. Most notably, I am going to make Naofumi angry and frustrated at his treatment, but I am going to focus on depression for him as well. You'll... figure out the reason why soon, though.
Helltaker: Cerberus and Lucifer will have an impact in this story.
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"You're… a resilient one, aren't you?!" A man stood in front of a hanging child.
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The sound of a whip echoed through the hallway, the cells, the basement…
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"Out of every single disgusting piece of shit here, you, my dear child, are the most boring!" Whip after whip, the man continued to more strength into his torture. However, to his disappointment, his 'entertainment' didn't seem to budge. The man wanted to hear her cries, her agony, her terror…
"Bitch!" After one more whip, he stopped to look at his latest work. The girl, the child, his latest subject, remained motionless. He would've thought that he had accidentally killed her, but with that creepy smile that remained etched onto her face, he perished the thought.
"...Even with that other demi being dead, you still won't cry! You still won't scream! It's all your damn fault you stupid bitch!" The man, who was fat, was noticeably getting more angry by the second. But still, the girl, the child, who remained chained… smiled.
"Wait… ah, yes! I know exactly how to break you!" The man left the child for a brief period of time before coming back with a crystal ball. The fat man looked at her in the eyes, noticing her orbs carrying nothing but emptiness. Placing the orb onto the nearby table next to him, he walked towards his comptration, pulling down the lever to lower the hanging child a bit.
"You poor thing. You must be wondering about that village that you came from, correct?" He displayed his voice to be soft and caring. After saying that, the girl's raccoon-like ears had twitched. This had not been unnoticed by the fat man. "You worry for their safety, right? Well, my child, it's a shame to say that your village is gone!" His once soft and caring voice had been replaced with joy.
"No…" She wasn't believing the words that he was saying. She didn't want to believe the words that he was saying. She mustn't cry. If she cries, she breaks the promise that she cherishes in her heart. She had been strong until now, so she must continue to stay strong.
As her head was forced to look at the table with the crystal orb by the fat man, she didn't want to believe what she was seeing. She didn't want to believe what she was seeing. She didn't want to believe what she was seeing.
Her home…
Her flag…
Her people…
Had been burned within the crystal orb.
She mustn't cry.
She mustn't cry.
Her eyes betrayed what her heart shouldn't do.
A bleeding and crying heart.
She was soon screaming in pain as the session continued forward.
"Why am I alive?"
She had nothing. There was no point of waiting for someone to rescue her. Her home, her people, and her hope had been destroyed. She couldn't remember how long she had been tortured and kept within the basement. Days? Weeks? Months?
Rifana was dead. And the fat man had told her that it was all her fault. Her screams from the night… it was because she kept Rifana from sleeping, that she was dead. She had failed Rifana. She had failed her friend. She had failed… everyone.
And it was all her fault.
"..." She couldn't speak nor think anymore. She remained seated on the cold and disgusting floor. She was going to die here. She was going to meet Rifana later. She was going to meet Keel later. She was going to meet her parents later. Instead of the cold, she wants to be embraced by warmth. Is death cold? Or is it warm?
"Hello!"
"Hello, mortal!"
"Hi!"
Who? She wasn't fazed by the sudden voices that she heard from her left. She slowly turned her head to the left, not having any thoughts whatsoever of them.
And when she did, she was greeted with the sight of three girls in front of her, but not in any normal fashion. She was seeing three white-haired girls staring at her from a portal-like substance from within the floor.
"Are you okay?"
"Are you injured?"
"Do you need help?"
The best way to describe them was that they were triplets.
"He...help?" The child wondered what was going on. Why were they asking if she needed help? Why did they care? The people from here never cared for her, so what makes them different?
"You asked for help!"
"We can help you!"
"You require our assistance!"
From their exclaimed voices, it was easy to tell that they were excited to help the child. So much so, that they had crawled from out of the ground and rushed to her aid. With the three of them gently placing the child on the bed, they stared at her tired form with excitement.
"We can help!"
"What can we help with?!"
"Tell us! Tell us!" Out of random, the child began to cough roughly. As the child began to cough, the three triplets noticed the scars and blood that were seen on her frail body. If she wasn't treated soon, the child will soon die. The child must be dealing with a lot of pain.
"Heal!"
"Heal!"
"Heal!" The three exclaimed, holding their hands out in front of them. With their hands starting to illuminate with green light, the child was starting to feel lighter. Her throat didn't hurt anymore. Her body didn't feel pain anymore. Oddly enough, the child didn't remember how long it has been since she had felt pain and relief.
"You need help!"
"Tell us! Tell us!"
"We can-hm?!" Before the last triplet could finish her sentence, her nose began to twitch a bit. Getting a whiff of what she smelled, the said triplet's face began to glow a bit red.
"Death is around!" With that triplet finishing, the other two began to sniff the air as well, having the same reaction as the first. They seemed… joyous with the smell of death around in the air.
"Death…?" The child asked before the triplets turned to face her. With the triplets soon touching her head at once, memories started to flood within her head. Memories of her childhood. Memories with her parents. Memories of… everything that had happened before the present.
"You failed them~!"
"Failed them~!"
"They hate you now~!"
"H-huh?" The child was starting to grow afraid. Why were they saying those things? Who were they referring-
"Your parents!" One began to hug the child.
"Your friends!" The second began to rub her head.
"Your people!" The third had walked over to the jail cell bars. The child's eyes widened.
"No one's coming to save you!"
"They hate you!"
"You failed them!" The child began to cover her ears, not wanting to hear them anymore.
'They're wrong! They're wrong!' She continued to think to herself. No matter how much she wanted to reject their words, a part of her accepted them.
The sound of a bar snapping from its place was heard. Looking at the cell bars, she noticed that the third had taken a bar from its place with incredible strength. Using her knee, she snapped the bar into two smaller bars. With the two smaller bars, the third had walked to the child and handed her one of the smaller bars.
"What the hell is going on down here?!" Hearing the ruckus, the fat man had come to investigate the noises that were made. He was in the middle of another session, so he was visibly not in the mood for anything else.
Especially when it comes to the slave that causes him the most problems.
"Continue to make noise down here and I'll-" Before he could finish his sentence, he noticed the three pairs of blood red eyes staring back at him from within the cell. He wondered why and how there were other people within the cell of the raccoon demi, but before he could speak any further, he was sent onto the floor with something sharp within his right shoulder.
"GAGGHHHHHH!" It all happened so fast. For one second, he was just standing there, and in the next… he was laying down with a small metal bar within his shoulder. Not only that…
"Nice throw~!" The first had begun clapping.
"Very nice throw~!" The second had followed the first.
"I scored~!" The third had jumped to celebrate.
The three triplets were then staring down at him with malicious grins. Canines were seen on their faces, followed by the saliva of drool from the corner of their mouths. He couldn't say anything. Just by looking at them, he could feel something off about them. From their formal black and red attire, to their pure white colored ears. They looked like demi-humans, but something about them… terrified him.
"He reeks of death~!"
"Sinner!"
"Killer!" With the three of them showing their canines to the fat man again, he wanted to scream out for help. He needed his guards to help him. He wanted his guards to help him.
"He-" Before he could call out for help, his mouth had been covered by one of the triplets, his head, his arms, and legs were forced down. He felt the grip of the three triplets overpowering his own strength. With the small metal bar still penetrating his shoulder, he started to panic more. But, shame to say for him, he wasn't going anywhere.
"W-why…?" As the child began to walk out of the cell with the small metal bar gripped tight within her hands, she looked to see the triplets restraining the fat man.
"Kill him!"
"Kill him~!"
"Kill him~!" The three chanted.
"W-what? N-no!" The child didn't want to hurt anybody. And she sure didn't want to kill anybody either. After her friends' death, she didn't want to watch anyone suffer anymore. She couldn't do that to anyone…
"Freedom!"
"You will become free~!"
"Kill!" The three wanted the child to do what must be done for freedom. And taking a step back, she looked frightened. The fat man could only scream muffles.
"I don't… I don't want-"
"You will fail your parents~!"
"You will fail your friends~!"
"Failure!" The three were beginning to taunt the child, in which, the child had become still.
"Fail...ure?" She thought back to her parents, remembering the promise that she had made to them. But… she couldn't keep her promise. She failed her parents. She broke her promise to her parents. She started to walk towards the fat man.
"He took them away~!"
"He killed your parents~!"
"He killed Rifana-chan~!" The three triplets continued to put pressure on the fat man.
'He… killed them all. I failed them. I failed everyone! They hate me! They hate me! They hate me! It's my fault! Mother… Father…! Rifana-chan! Keel-kun! He took them! He killed them! It's his fault!' Her thought process wasn't straight.
"I hate you. You made them hate me. You made them hate me! You killed them! I hate you!" With her anger being visibly shown, her hair was clearly shown being a mess, her eyes had become slitted, and her tail had become still and fuzzy.
In the fat man's eyes… she had become an animal.
And before then, the feeling of chest being pierced was all that he had felt. One after another… and another and another.
Until he couldn't feel anything but the cold.
"Splend~!"
"Amazing~!"
"It's time to feast!" As they continued to watch the child continue to stab the fat man constantly, they drooled in anticipation of the meal in front of them.
2 months later…
"..." Naofumi Iwatani sat on a rock in the middle of a plain grass field during the cold night. With his head remaining lowered, he stared at the grass as he remembered all that had happened before this present time.
He had been summoned to this world without any warning, forced to fight for this world with nothing but a shield to protect himself. He questioned how a shield could be used as a weapon, as he had nothing but his two fists to use to attack the monsters in the grass field. With pitiful damage, he had to work his rear off to kill the monsters that would easily be defeated in a single swipe of a sword.
So, here he is, in the middle of the dark with nothing but shield and fists to protect him.
But, unfortunately, his methods of killing monsters was not all of his problems. Naofumi Iwatani was tricked. He had been robbed of his money, his equipment, and his safety. He was lied to by everybody in this world.
"...Them. Screw them!" His random outburst had caused a bunch of birds who were nearby to disperse. "Why was it that I have to suffer like this, huh?! Why did I have to be the weak one?! Why does it have to be this damn shield?! Why did it have to be me?!" His questions were answered by no one. He was shouting into the night of blue, hoping to have someone at least listen to him…
But he shouldn't.
He shouldn't trust anyone in this world.
He couldn't put his trust into anyone else.
He wasn't going to go home without fighting.
And he was going to have to do the fighting alone.
Because he has no one to help him.
Here, in this world that's filled with hatred, death, and greed, is the world that Naofumi Iwatani had to survive in.
"I'm all… alone." He would miss his family because this will be the world that he will die in. He found himself crossing his arms on his knees, waiting for the next day to soon arrive. He has much to do and much to earn.
'When the hell did it get so cold?' Naofumi found himself wrapping himself in his Barbarian cape that the blacksmith had given him. Earlier, the cold hadn't bothered Naofumi, but for some reason, the cold began to pick up. Something felt… off about this. 'Guess I'll… sleep here for tonight. There's no more monsters laying around so…' Laying down, Naofumi closed his eyes after gazing at the moonlight. Something about the moon gave him a bit of comfort.
For now, it was time to rest for a new day.
…
…
…
Rustle…
Rustle…
The sound of rustling was starting to bother Naofumi. Starting to grunt in annoyance, he figured that there were probably some monsters that were left lying around in the vicinity. The Orange Balloon seemed to annoy Naofumi the most since he had to deal with bouncing around him all the time.
Rustle…
Rustle…
'For the love of-!' He opened his eyes, ready to fight the annoying Orange Balloons. But… opening his eyes… had rather given him a fright.
Three pairs of blood red eyes were staring down at him. He wanted to move, but the pair of eyes were… frightening to him. Never had he ever felt the need to run and move away from someone.
"He's awake~!"
"Very much so~!"
"He lives~!" The three pairs of blood red eyes celebrate. Moving away from him, Naofumi took this chance to stand and gather some distance away from them. With his shield, he took his stance, ready to fight against them.
"Who the hell are you three?! Are you all here for a fight?!" Naofumi was easily seen being nervous as his hand was starting to shake a bit. With sweat dripping down from his head, he couldn't help but grip his hand tightly now. Seeing this, the three girls began to tilt their heads to the side.
In the same direction.
'Where… where the hell did they come from? What the hell am I feeling from them? They're… women, but… something about them feels wrong!' Naofumi analyzed their formal attire consisting of a red-buttoned shirt, black vest, and animalistic features such as their wolf-like ears and canine teeth. '...Where the hell are they from? That kind of clothing doesn't fit this world. It's more… Earth's kind of clothing.'
"Answer me, what do you want from me?" He felt his anxiety start to rise even more when they smiled. Something about their smiles felt devilish to him.
"Naofumi Iwatani!" The first spoke.
"You are Naofumi Iwatani!"
"You are the Shield Hero!"
…
…
…
"What?" Naofumi found this unbelievable. Yes, they identified who he was because he was the Shield Hero and his 'crime' had surely been spreaded out into the public, but something about them all saying his name felt frightening.
"Join us~!"
"Join our party~!"
"Join the party~!" All three of them extended their hands out for him to take, only for him to continue to stare at them.
"...Hell no." To that response, all three of them tilted their heads to the right, acting as if they didn't understand the word "no". "...You're planning on trying to trick me! I've had it with this world trying to manipulate me! I'm not going to join you, and I'm sure as hell not going to follow some damn women!" Naofumi finished off, getting his point out.
"Shield Hero, Naofumi Iwatani." He heard a womanly voice behind him, causing him to instinctively turn around, ready to swing his fist at the enemy behind him.
Only for his neck to be grabbed.
"Guh!" Feeling the person's grip on his neck to be tight, he was barely able to breathe. As he was then starting to be raised into the air, he looked down to his enemy who was indeed a woman with long brown hair, choking him with one hand.
"Why weren't you there to save us?" He heard from her. Her grip began to tighten.
"Why weren't you there to stop them?" It tightens again.
"Why weren't you there to stop them from hurting us?!" Naofumi's vision was starting to become hazy. He wasn't able to see straight anymore. He was losing air, and he was on the verge of passing out.
Was he really going to die here?
Without having to make any impact for himself?
To not even have the chance to prove the people of this world, that he wasn't a criminal?
To not even have the chance to say goodbye to his family?
"I… can't…" Tears started to leak from his eyes, finally feeling the pain and anguish that he hadn't felt since being tricked. This was his sadness. This was his depression.
Until he was dropped onto the ground, now coughing and breathing for air.
"Shield Hero…" Looking at the brown-haired woman's face, he could see that she was starting to cry for some reason.
"Do not cry, Raphtalia!"
"No tears, Raphtalia!"
"No more depression!" The three triplets had gone to the now named woman to comfort her.
"...Shield Hero, Naofumi Iwatani." As she had called his name once again, he looked up to see a sword a few inches away from his throat. "Join." Was she serious? Was she seriously asking someone that she was close to killing… to join her party?
"...Is this some kind of sick joke?! Something you all get to laugh at! Let's all laugh at the pathetic Shield Hero now! Get the hell away from me! I'd rather die than get tricked by women again!" He glared into her eyes, now seeing that was doing the same as well. Soon, his glare faltered, and he lowered his head after moving her sword away from him.
"Just get on with already… kill me. I'm not… fighting for this stupid world that cares nothing about me. I'll die early and won't get the chance of saying goodbye to my family anyway…" He was on all fours, accepting his death.
And yet, he still waited for a minute or two.
"Hey, are you going to-!" Before he could say anything else, he was grabbed by his stomach and lifted up. Now, he is currently being carried by the woman like a child! "Hey! What the hell are you doing?! Put me down! I said I'm not joining to screw off!"
"..." She ignored him, continuing to carry him to wherever she wanted.
"Aw, he looks like a child~!"
"Child~!"
"He's a child~!" Naofumi felt the embarrassed heat of red cross onto his cheeks.
"Shut the hell up! I'm not a damn child!" And yet, he was trying to squirm out of her hold like one.
(A/N)
Hello everyone... yeah, this is my first time making a story with Helltaker because... eh, what the hell. This is just a little experiment in the works, so... I'm sorry if this isn't to your liking.