Atropa Belladonna (Ghost Widow's Story)

Looking back, it would have been much more appropriate that my death occurred the day before it actually did.

I recall April 2nd 1989 as being a pleasant day in the Rogue Isles. If I had known that it was the last day of my life I would have made more of an effort to enjoy it, but I had little time to appreciate it. Life had gotten rather complicated of late, and the last thing on my mind was to simply relax and enjoy myself.

I was a rising star in Arachnos, at last. I had a long way to go before I could hope to stand at the right hand of Lord Recluse himself, but I did not doubt that it was my ultimate destiny. I had earned quite the reputation …

As had Nocturne.

It does without saying that she did not like me. We had never fought since our first battle, but neither one of us would have been aggrieved to see the other fall. Our superiors had made sure to avoid putting us together for fear of losing a valuable asset, but we both knew that only one of us could hope to earn the reputation as being the deadliest Night Widow alive …

On the day of my death, I was summoned to speak with an Arbiter. Much to my surprise, Nocturne was also present.

I was not pleased.

“Our Lord Recluse has decided that a member of the Family needs to be dealt with,” the Arbiter said.

I said nothing. My background was well known, and I was the most logical choice for any termination related to the Family. This did not particularly disturb me as I had already slain several of their lieutenants.

“Normally this would be your task, Agent Vetrano, but given the nature of the target Nocturne has offered to take the assignment.”

I looked at her in surprise.

Nocturne managed to look contritely at me, but I could see the gleam in the one eye that I had left to her. “The target is well known to you.”

I looked at the photo on the desk. My heart was pounding so loudly that I thought it would burst from my chest, but I kept my face expressionless and my voice level. “I belong to Arachnos now. If this man’s death will serve the cause of Arachnos, then I will be glad to carry out the assignment. I will kill him.”

“You will kill your father?” the Arbiter asked me carefully.

“Yes,” I said, and my voice sounded distant to me, “I will kill my father.”

“Arachnos is pleased by your service, Agent Vetrano,” the Arbiter told me with a thin smile. “Your father is on Mercy Island today.”

“He is?” I was puzzled. My father had no interests there—indeed, very little Family had very little presence on Mercy.

“Yes,” Nocturne said in that rough voice that I had given her. There was the slightest trace of a smile on her lips. “There is a special Family meeting being held in the Neutral Territory of Mercy Island.”

“He was your latest assignment?”

“Yes. I must say that your father is a rather … vigorous man, Agent Vetrano,” and she gave a sensual smile.

I shrugged my shoulders. My father had often had a woman at his side throughout my childhood—none of them stayed long. I could see how a woman like Nocturne—with her ruined beauty—would have appealed to him. “The location?”

My blood ran cold when she handed me the slip of paper.

“Is something the matter, Agent Vetrano?” Nocturne asked innocently.

“No. Nothing.” I looked at the Arbiter. “I will attend to the matter tonight. Is there anything else?”

“No. I trust that you will handle the matter with your usual proficiency.”

I bowed my head. I turned to Nocturne. “Thank you for your insight, Agent Nocturne.”

“I live to serve Arachnos,” she replied with a slight bow.

“Don’t we all?” I replied as I walked away. Inside, though, my thoughts were racing—of all the buildings that Father could have chosen?

If Father found the records, then he would feel himself free to avenge my rebellion. If Arachnos found them, then I would face discipline for not revealing potentially valuable information about the Family.

Either way, my fate would not be pleasant.

I bit my lip in frustration. I did not know how she could have discovered the existence of my secret information cache, but somehow Nocturne must have done so. She had manipulated my father into coming to Mercy to arrange not his downfall, but mine.

No.

I would not permit this. I would complete my assignment for Arachnos. I would preserve my secret. And then …

And then I would turn my attention to Nocturne …

It is a hard thing to remember your death the way a ghost does.

The human mind, mortal flesh, is fragile and susceptible to forgetfulness. You can easily forget so many things, even those that seem to be the most vivid of memories.

You have no idea how I envy the living their capacity to forget.

It pains me so to speak of this …

But I must.

Paolo led my support squad, of course. He knew why I had to get to the building. He knew that it was my father I had to kill. He would not let me face that task alone.

I did not want him to come. I argued with him. I pleaded.

But he insisted.

Why did I not wish him along? I do not know. I dreaded what I had to do, and I wished Paolo to be far far away from it …

But I could not stop him.

The meeting was being held at night. The proper thing to do would have been to secure the exits and then slowly make our way to the meeting room. Our force was not large, but neither was the building. We could have done that.

But I had no patience.

“Guard the exits!” I shouted. “Let no one escape alive!”

“Belladonna!” Paolo shouted at me.

But I did not stop. I could not stop.

I ran to my fate.

Normally, I would have killed everyone I came across as I made my way up the building, but that night I eluded them with all my skill and made my way past them. If I succeeded, I could come back for them and help Paolo deal with them …

Yet another mistake I made that night.

How different things could have been …

Finally, I came to the meeting. My father was leading it, surrounded by men. Some I knew, most I did not. He had not changed at all—he still looked like the master of every situation he faced.

And he had to die.

Mario, his oldest bodyguard, died first. When I had been a very little girl, he had given me the first piece of candy I had ever tasted …

I killed him as quickly and painlessly as I could.

The others cried out as Mario fell and reached for their weapons.

Beppe was the next. He was an arrogant young man who tried to kiss me when I was 13 years old.

I took the time to make his a little more painful.

They began firing wildly … and this actually put me at greater peril. A wild shot had just as much chance of hitting me as anyone else. I had to finish this quickly.

Claudio and Benito fell next. They had been nothing to me, and died as they had lived—violently.

Drago managed to actually wound me in the shoulder before he fell—and the pain caused me to shimmer into visibility.

I cast my eyes around to see who remained …

And my eyes met my father’s.

Father’s lips were curled back in a snarl, and he was reaching into his briefcase and I saw him pull out a grenade and pull the pin. He threw it at me and ducked under the table –

I tried to leap over the bodies of the men I had killed and those who were trying to kill me, but someone grabbed my ankle and I lost my balance—

And the blast smashed into my back.

“Paolo! Paolo!”

I shrieked his name fearfully like a terrified child.

“Paolo!” I tried to say more, tried to tell him what he meant to me, but I was choking on my own blood.

“Belladonna! I am coming!” Paolo’s voice roared through my comlink.

I heard gunfire below me.

I could smell smoke. The office was on fire. Already I could smell the stench of burning flesh—

Rough hands grabbed my mask and tore it off, threw me onto my back—

My eyes met my father’s.

“Belladonna.” He was carrying a case—the case that I had left here years ago. “I was told you would be here.”

“Father—“ I coughed on my own blood. I tried to rise, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t feel my arms, my legs—

“I am disappointed in you, Belladonna. You walked right into this.”

“Father—“

He drew his pistol. “You would have made a fine son, Belladonna.”

I spat at him. “Go to hell.”

“Eventually, I expect that I will.” He kissed my forehead. “But you’ll be there to greet me, my daughter. Goodbye, Belladonna.”

I could do nothing but glare at him as he placed the barrel against my head.

The world exploded.

The dead do not change; this is why so many of us go mad.

Some of us are angry over the life that we left behind—a destiny left unfulfilled, a lost love, a dream denied.

The strong emotions that we felt as we died exist within us forever—and at a fever pitch that the living can never fully comprehend. Fear and hatred; love and lust. Despair. A refusal to submit to fate …

We are ruled by what we were.

I wanted two things as I died: I wanted to live with an all consuming passion, and I wanted Paolo to survive.

These two things shape me still.

I might have fallen into the madness and despair when I found myself still trapped on the mortal plane if not for Paolo. I could not give into the impotent fury and helpless rage of the dead when Paolo still breathed …

My poor Paolo …

If I had been the rational creature that you see now, I would have urged him to seek medical care. I would have sent him on his way to find help. If only to find out what happened, Arachnos would have restored him …

But I wanted Paolo at my side—I NEEDED him at my side. I could no more let him go than a mortal could gnaw off his own arm.

So I led him down … down beneath the ruined building that burned around us. I made him eat whatever he could catch. I made him drink the befouled water … I used abilities I did not fully understand and channeled mystical forces to fan the faint embers of life within him into a burning flame.

I saw him change. I saw him twist from the handsome man that had held my heart from the moment I met him into the misshapen Wretch that stands beside me to this day.

And not once did he complain or beg me for release.

My sweet Paolo …

I have done terrible things—things that can never be forgiven. I have lied. I have betrayed. I have killed. As a mortal woman, as a eternal spirit, I have sewn disaster and misery in my wake like few other creatures in history …

And yet the one thing—the only thing—that I truly regret is the life that I saved …

My Paolo …

If only we had not loved each other so, perhaps we both would be at peace now …

The rest of my story you probably know.

When Arachnos investigated, they discovered that my spirit still lingered on the mortal plane. When they tried to exorcise me, my poor Wretch came to my rescue, and the tale of our prowess so impressed Recluse that he bade the Mu to free me from the place of my death that I might enter his service. Ever since that day, I have served him … served Arachnos.

There is a geas upon me, you know. I exist so long as Arachnos exists. This gives Recluse power over me …as he fully intended.

This does not please me.

But that is a concern for another time.

There are three things that I desire: to live again, to find release for my Wretch, and to gain revenge against those who wronged me.

The first two have not yet been accomplished. I have been betrayed time and again by those who have promised to serve me. There is too much of Paolo within Wretch to allow him to leave me …

But revenge … oh yes, there is still hope of revenge.

Lord Recluse would not approve of this desire of mine—if only because it does not serve his ends. So Arachnos does not aid me in this …

That is why I turned to you, Destined One.

The old man that I had you bring to me—yes, you know who he is now.

He spent a fortune to evade me, dabbled in occult forces to delay me, but he had no way of knowing that I would send you after him. After nearly twenty years, I will finally see the face of my father once more …

I have already learned much from him. I know now why he was able to escape me time and again. I know now how he always seemed to be just one step ahead of me …

And I know that Nocturne is not the one who told him to expect me all those years ago…

It is fitting, in a way. My entire life was a story of one betrayal after another—why would I think that she would have been any different?

I have one more task for you, Destined One. One more chore for me and all our accounts will be settled.

Bring her to me, Destined One. Bring me the woman that betrayed me more than any other. Bring the one that I once called sister and would have died for.

Bring me my murderess that I might pass judgment upon her.

Bring me Pia Marino.

And with that, the story is complete.

...


Well, I don't think I saw that particular end coming. Any plans for a follow-up?

O.o

It's a good work, Blue, but I don't think you need to work on Pia's story. Hers is told largely in-game already. The aftermath of it is left pretty wide open, but she makes sure you understand she has no further interest in rooting out the issue of her brother or her friend. She learned the truth of what happened to her brother, let her grief consume and blind her until all she could see was a vague notion of revenge, and almost found herself executed for it. That was all she needed, it was enough adventure for that Fortunata Seer.

Superb. Love it. Awesome. Crikey, running out of words here....

O.o indicates awe of awsomeness