Chapter 234: The crimes of the hero Avriel
A few days later, Aurianna was walking into the living room and spotted Avriel staring up at the ceiling, giggling.
"Oh my god, youth! I just wanna pet them," Avriel squealed, cuddling her pillow. Aurianna frowned in disgust, already knowing who Avriel was referring to.
Without a word, Aurianna walked up to Avriel and sprayed something into her eyes. Avriel immediately fell to the floor, rubbing her eyes furiously.
"What the hell did you spray me with? It's totes so not cool! And what is this stuff?" Avriel yelled, her voice full of irritation.
"Idiot repellent spray," Aurianna replied flatly.
"Aurianna, you're totes so cruel," Avriel whined, still writhing on the ground.
After listening to Avriel's complaining for a while, Aurianna suddenly had a thought and decided to ask, "So, Avriel, what crimes did you actually commit to end up in the Ruin?"
Avriel stared at her, hesitant. "You're totes not gonna be creeped out or anything, right?"
"No matter what you did, I won’t care. But as your leader, I need to understand my subordinates," Aurianna said, sitting down next to Jugi, who was quietly reading. Jade, on the other side, was focused on fixing puzzles laid out on the table.
"You sure you're ready for this?" Avriel asked nervously.
"Yeah, yeah," Aurianna waved her hand dismissively.
"Well, I was looking for a young husband," Avriel began, clasping her hands together, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Avriel, don’t say anything weird," Jugi warned without looking up from his book.
"Ever since I was a teenage girl…" Avriel started dreamily.
"I don’t want to hear your useless backstory. Get to the point," Aurianna cut in, rolling her eyes.
"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Aurianna asked, noticing the blank stares from all three Heroes.
"As I was saying," Avriel continued, clearing her throat. "When I was a young girl, I wanted to find love. But love never found me."
"Maybe it’s because I didn’t go out much. Yeah, that could be it," Avriel mused aloud. "But one day, I fell in love with a boy my age."
She paused before continuing trying to remember what had happened, "Who knew that after using me, he’d just break up with me like I meant nothing after I gave him everything."
"And so," she added, with an innocent tone, "since I totes couldn’t let him just leave like that, I killed him. You know, to protect our love and purity."
Aurianna’s eyebrow remained raised as she glanced at Avriel, waiting for her to elaborate. Avriel seemed to take that as an invitation to continue, so Avriel did.
"It was a beautiful night," Avriel began, her face resting on her right hand. "We had just finished dinner at his house. He was smiling, acting like everything was fine. But I knew… deep down, I knew he was going to leave me. I saw him discussing it with friends after all." She said, remembering spying from a wall just to hear him and his friends hysterically laughing at her. His phone was raised and he showed them photos of her and mocking her causing her to cry at the walls she was hiding.
Her expression darkened slightly, but then a twisted smile crept across her lips. "So, I decided to make sure he could never leave!"
Aurianna stared at her unfazed and allowed her to continue.
"I waited until we were alone. The moonlight was streaming in through the window, casting this perfect glow on his face. He looked so handsome, peaceful, adorable and cheeky, so unaware of what was about to happen." Avriel giggled softly. "I didn’t want to hurt him too much at first, you know? I loved him. So, I made it quick. And chopped off his head with the axe in my bag when he wasn't looking.”
“Oh, Aurianna, you wouldn't believe how peaceful it was. It felt like everything fell into place. Like we were finally, truly together!” She stared with a hysterical smile not noticing someone else in the room who stared at her with a terrified expression.
"I fell in love with a different person as well, and, well, totes killed him too. Then the next, and the next, and the next," Avriel continued with a casual tone.
"Until one day, the police finally caught me. It was so tragic! Suddenly, I was labeled a serial killer!" Avriel sighed dramatically and shook her head.
"Police?" Aurianna asked, clearly confused by the term.
"Like soldiers in your world," Avriel explained, waving her hand dismissively.
"So yeah, they caught me and threw me into a prison, but one day I was—" Avriel started to continue when Aurianna suddenly raised a hand.
"Stop right there," Aurianna said, signaling to Candy.
"Eh? Why?" Avriel asked, blinking in confusion.
Aurianna pointed at Candy, who was staring wide-eyed, her tail trembling slightly. The cat girl who was helping Jade with his puzzle. Pretending not to hear anything but she heard everything.
"Oh yeah," Avriel realized, suddenly remembering their company. ‘The others on this ship totes don't know we're Heroes,’ she thought. "So, uh, I saw this light, right? It summoned me to a place where I was supposed to help others."
Avriel grinned awkwardly, continuing, "I honestly hated the job. But I was promised riches and the chance to have any man I wanted. Except, they weren’t the kind of men I desired, so I got bored and, well, killed them off. Oh, and those kids didn’t want to be mine either! Can you imagine? I'm totes scared of having kids, so I had to kidnap other people’s kids instead, but they weren’t good enough, they didn't act like good children despite me trying to be a good mother, so I—well, I had to kill all those useless children. Don't worry I didn't do anything bad to them, I just wanted to play house," She waved her hand nonchalantly. "I lost count of how many people I killed."
Candy’s face went pale. "Are… are you a criminal?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"No, no, no! I'm totes a soldier who fought in a war," Avriel said with a dismissive laugh.
Avriel said with a mischievous grin. "All those men from the war? Young or middle-aged, they were supposed to be my trophies! But they were all so scared of me! Like, do they really despise consensual BDSM that much or did I go too far? I thought they would like it since they enjoyed doing it to women from rural villages, I thought they would understand."
"Okay, gonna stop you right there, Avriel," Jugi interrupted nervously, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. Avriel looked at him, clearly annoyed.
"You’re totes not supposed to interrupt me!" she snapped, glaring at him.
"Uh, look at everyone’s faces," Jugi said, motioning to Aurianna, Candy, and Kiana, all of whom were staring at her with various expressions of confusion and horror.
"You kids will totes understand when you grow up!" Avriel said with a playful grin.
"And Aurianna, you said you wouldn’t judge me!" she huffed, crossing her arms and leaning forward to glare at her.
"I changed my mind. You’re weird as hell," Aurianna responded flatly.
"Well, I’m a changed woman now… I think," Avriel replied with a shrug, looking almost proud of herself. "Though, I wish you were a cute young man. Maybe things would’ve been better between us, Master."
"Evil spirits be gone!" Aurianna yelled, spraying Avriel once more with the mysterious bottle, causing her to roll on the floor in pain.
"Master, you’re totes being mean! And what the hell is in that bottle?!" Avriel wailed, clutching her burning eyes.