Skullgirls: Spite and Fury (An skullgirls AU)

[DON'T SCARY]

Maplecrest was a placid little island of peace and serenity amidst the blood soaked streets and violence ridden history of the veritable hive of scum and villainy that is named the Canopy Kingdom that it unfortunately resides in. The only cause of death you had to worry about is the tranquil boredom such a place undoubtedly brings to its scores of various youths. It was very much the case for one Filia Medici as all that she had to worry about was the humdrum lectures of Mrs. Victoria and the strenuous onslaught of school work she would surely unload upon them as they toil away the day hours going against the beast that is her curriculum. One of the many typical perils a teenage girl like herself should endure, but such troubles were naught but truly childish and silly in the grand scheme of things, the blond haired girl soon truly realized this fact of life as she lays unconscious, Carol gingerly nudges her shoulders, to get any sign of life but to no avail. Blood gushed in rhythmic pulses from the purplish swollen mess that once was her right eye. Despite the grievous wound on her face, Filia would only feel a dull echo of the awful sensation such a thing would give as from the stunt that put her into this…predicament.


As neither girl could have known what should be a simple outing to go blow some steam after a long school day would lead to such terror and suffering…

---

"Darn it Carol…where did you go?" Filia muttered to herself as she returned back to the very spot on the pier where she left Carol after she went off to get some ice cream from a close-by ice cream stand for the both of them. Only to see that there was no sight of her. No matter how much her eyes looked all around the docks, there wasn't any sign of the brunette in sight. But sight wasn't the sense that had aided FIlia as her eardrums ringed as nearby familiar shout cuts through the air like a knife through butter, it was a shrill "H-HELP ME! S-SOMEBODY PLEASE H-HELP !" that couldn't come from anyone else but Carol. As soon as she heard that, both ice cream cones would come crashing down to the wooden boards of the harbor. Without really thinking, Filia's legs made a mad dash towards the direction of the sounds.

And what she saw next would burns itself in her memories and soul forever like an branding iron as two thugs that she knew instantly were Medici, the short stocky one would grabbed both of Carol's small, thin legs and the tall, lithe one would grabbed her arms with one long hand to grabbed her wrists and used the other to attempt to cover her mouth before sharply slapping her across the cheeks for attempting to bite his fingers in retaliation But despite her best efforts, Carol was just a kid and they were grown adults as both gangsters would haul her to a white van that with it''s back doors like a ravenous tiger about to be fed with its masters' latest catch. To Filia, the entire experience felt limenal as she could only just watch as everything was played out like a film reel, an disgusting film reel at that. Slowly, her legs slowly began to shuffle back as her eyes were still glued to the scene as the selfish, primal desire to live began trickling in, piling up and up….until Carol's eyes locked onto hers, wide and hysterical as she would run, but unlike the countless other repetitions of this very scene, forward rather than backward.

The blond girl ran like a demon out of Gehenna as she would pounce on the back of the shorter mobster in record time. " H-HUH! Get the fuck off of me, you crazy bitch!? I SAID FUCKING GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!!" The short red one bellowed as Filia latched on his back as she wrapped around her thin arms over the gangster's stocky shoulders and wrapped around his blubbery neck, her delicate nails scratching and plunging deep in the flesh of the rather portly bodied criminal's face as hard she could. Filia didn't…she couldn't let go, despite her instincts and the other more selfish parts of herself screaming at her that she should have just ran and her body promptly providing a hefty amount of adrenaline to do so, but yet she simply couldn't just run away and leave her, she simply can't.

"RUN, CAROL, ru-RUN!" Filia's voice creaked as her vocal cords pushed to a level of volume that the organs never reached before in her short lifetime. All while his compatriot soon threw Carol into the van like she was a garbage bag and not as a fellow human being and to make it worse, then pointed his gun directly at her to prevent her to accomplishing her request, making her stomach twisted in both horror of it all and anger at such disrespect thrown at her friend. But the reality of her being a mere, simple teenager and her opponent a grown man became even more readily apparent as Filia's sense of right side up was harshly disrespected as gravity turned against her as the smaller but unfortunately stronger than her gangster's back lurched in a jerk motion as he flung the girl over to the hard wooden planks face first roughly as the boons of adrenaline slowly faded away, leaving her nerves to signal nothing but white hot fire throughout her body unmitigated. But this was least of her worries as the adult's leather loafer struck into her stomach, adding to her physical suffering and discomfort. The girl began sharply hissing in pain but suddenly stopped dead mid-vocalization as the rotund man brought back his firearm back into her personal view. The moon light reflected off of the gun's over-sized drum, giving her a full view of the mafioso's now scratched up face, his veins pushed against facial skin. Forcing far more blood through the superficial wounds than what should be allowed, painting his already angry pink skin into a ugly grimace that she would imagine the monsters looked like in the stories that her mother used to read her when younger.


Only there will be no Annie of the stars to come rescue her. And despite the ruckus and the screams that came with it, the occasional bystander were just as unreliable as they only walked past the scene, some were clearly disturbed by it while others feigned ignorance. New Meridian is a place where various acts of violence and depravity were common as the rats scurrying about in the slums. So no one would come to their aid, they knew better to get in the heroic business.

Especially when that business involves the Medici.

But instead of simply just giving her body an lovely array of bullet holes put in by automatic fire. He instead flipped the gun upside down, giving her a good view of the light brown butt-stock before bringing it down on her face.

Hard

"...FILIA!" Carol's voice cuts through the air as she is held back by the yellow coded gangster as his companion exact his vengeance against the blond girl's assault tenfold. The sounds of the collision of hardened wood against soft skin filled the night air, almost like a sick parody of a drum stick hitting a drum.


Thwack!


THWACK!!


THWACK!!!


Stars, far more than what is found in the night's ceiling above, filled her vision as the world around her went blurry and her perception of reality lost its stability as blackness constantly shuttered around consciousness and unconsciousness. All she can make out is clips and blurbs out of phrases.


"Damn Lawrence…don't damage…too much…."


"Riccardo…fucking Bitch… my face…"


"...F-Filia…oh trinity…"

It was all just random sequences of letters and tones that she couldn't figure or process as it all flew past her mind's grasp like trying to grasp the air between her fingers before the blackness overtook her in full…

---

For some untold period of time, as Filia soon returned to consciousness in full as she finally opened…an eye while the other simply felt too heavy, heavy in a way that can't be comfortable nor natural as an white hot pain would always be too happy to punish her every time she even attempted to open the damaged lids. Dismayed, Filia would turn around see Carol with her brown hair disheveled as the shorter girl clasped her shoulders as if she was a balloon been threatened to blown away by a strong breeze, But both girls flinched as the two mafiosos sat on cardboard boxes as all four of them was in the windowless interior of a,...van? The tall skinny one did a small romantic gesture that made both girls writhed in utter disgust. While the short, stocky one eyed her down as his finger inches towards the trigger. Clearly he wanted to see her put down six feet in the ground early.

Her sole remaining dark grayish eye gazed upon the muzzles of the mafiosos' tommy guns, the sight of the small splotch of her blood painted the butt of the red one's firearm, reminding her of the occurrence that put them into this situation was still fairly wet and fresh as her blood didn't completely dried out. As their captors stood on the other side of the conspicuous if not stereotypical white van, both men were vilely smug in their dominance that they over them the odd little situation the four of them had found themselves in. The sight of their disgusting smirks made Filia almost taste bitter gastric bile as she remembered that her family is responsible for arming such devils and giving them the means to do such a terrible act like this.

Even though she has no part of the illicit dealings that her relatives did on the regular, but as a Medici she knew enough.

As she and the brown haired girl both sat as far from the ill-intended criminals as humanly possible, pressing their backs against the van's wall tightly as fear made their hearts pace faster than the vehicle that they were both forced in. While Carol rightfully showcased her fear fully, Filia having a bit more experience towards with these types of guys as she clearly stared back, brows folded into the best glare she could muster in defiance to them both….which was mediocre at best as the dilation of her glossy eye mitigated any chance of her been intimidating and daunting. Leaving only a few throaty guffaws and a satirical "Look at how scared I am!" from the tall lanky one with the yellow buttoned up shirt, he stunk of cheap cologne and cheaper whine. But after that, the silence shortly returned and it was deafening, heck suffocating even as the only sound breaking through the Aeon-forsaken quiet was the turbulence of the wheels of the van bumping and rolling whatever unlucky obstacle on the road that stood before the van's driven path as they took their sweet time going to whatever awful destination they were taking them.


Both of the girls' throats seize up from the suspense of it all. But as Carol clinged to her right forearm in a death's grip as her eyes, worn and puffy, looked at Filia for any form of positivity or words of encouragement. ' Trinity…she's shaking like a leaf, I have never seen her this scared before…' was Filia can think about as the shorter girl all but begged to be given any singular ounce of optimism to lighten up this increasingly dangerous situation they find themselves in, to just give her a light at the end of the tunnel. It was almost puppyish the way they gleamed at her in a way that she would have found Carol utterly adorable and something Filia herself would tease for weeks to come, if it weren't for the fact that both of them were being threatened by automatic instruments of lethality and bloodshed that being held by certified Medici sleazeballs no less.

But no..she can't give Carol something that she can't bring herself to believe.

"You know, usually the broads that walk the new Meridian harbor at night are some real bores at best, and downright porkers that make most feral floozies look like the illustrious Eliza herself in comparison at worst." The tall lean one droned lazily as he fanned his long angular face with his free hand in a teasing fashion. So casual as if the both of them didn't just take Filia and Carol away from their families and lives. But the man then crouched down to their level, that very same hand would grasp on her thigh tightly, all she could hear was her heart as it began to beat rapidly."But I have to say, you two little ladies are the cream of the crop as far I can say." Filia couldn't help narrow her eye at the man in defiance, but his smile widened as he pointed the gun directly at Carol's now bone pale face.

The message he just gave was the loudest Filia has ever heard in her life despite there's no words exchanged.

"Your little friend has a real cuteness, like a caramel drizzled brownie, it makes me want to eat her right up like the morsel that she is." The lanky man purred, words were as toxic as the air pollution around New Meridian's skyline, the oiliness made Carol squirm and Filia's Knuckles tightened in response as she tried to turn her head awy. Their reactions truly highlight his role, one that he certainly loved, as the predator and them being the prey. He then turns to Filia. "But she doesn't compare to you , a golden vixen with an spit-fire-"

The red shirt mobster behind him made a loud snort, still clearly very angry over what transpired earlier. This didn't go unnoticed by the other man, giving both Filia and Carol a much needed respite.

"Oh? You disagree with me Lawrence?"

"I disagree with you lettin' the bitch live , lover boy. And hearing you take your sweet time trytn' to woo her is making my finger feel very itchy "


"Killing a fine little vixen like her would just be a waste, you know. Let alone tarnishing her face, but luckily you didn't…" The slim man's manicured fingers would clasp her chin and then turn her face back to him, the angle revealing her wound with more clarity. "…do too much damage to her, not enough to totally ruin her beauty."


"Well whoopie freakin' doo! Riccardo, if your little "vixen" went fuckin' rapid and used your face as a scratching post, than you sure as hell wouldn't be trying to sweet talk and sing serenades about her!" The rotund gangster then motioned with his face, covered by the myriad of fresh scratch marks that still had little red beads that popped out from the exposed flesh as his facial muscles grew tense from anger once again. "I mean look at what she has done to my handsome mug!"

Seeing the wounds she inflicted to her enemy, would make the corners of Filia's mouth perked upward as her face began to twitch, fighting back she couldn't help but be more than a little satisfied for at least not making it too easy for the captors. Even it was barely a modicum of the repayment for all of the torment and the horror they subjected her and Carol to at all.

"Frankly, I see it as an improvement."


"YOU FUCKIN' WHA-"

Rough banging occurred from behind the gangsters that had to come whoever was driving the van, snapping the two right out of their little spat as both girls felt their pre-existing levels of dread rise exponentially when the wheels of the vehicle came to a screeching halt. As if it was the executioner's bell that would sign off their deaths, the lock mechanisms of the van's back doors clicked as they slid open with both girls were dragged out in tow with little resistance other than wince or grimace as each gangster's free hand hold onto them in a death grip, Filia being too exhausted as she was in.in perpetual state of aching and fatigue due to the blood loss and the sensation of the injury itself while Carol was too frightened and shocked as she was still processing all that has occurred to them so far. But the stench of death and long burnt ash is what immediately greeted the both of them was an desolate ghetto that was once was a picture of health and prosperity in the canopy kingdom in past and served as a scarred reminder of the apathy of the Renoirs and their regime over anything that didn't further either political interests or war efforts. It was located in the outermost outskirts of the city and it was a far cry of the peaceful suburbia that was Maplecrest and the lively, bustling main districts of New Meridian. From it's once lovely crafted houses became nothing more than graffiti-ed ruins to the once grand sized oak trees becoming nothing more than skeletal snags whose have become hollowed. But the factory warehouse that they stood before was the area's most iconic landmark, what was the once economic provider of the neighborhood and it's proud symbol has transitioned into an looming specter in it's afterlife that all made the two feel small . Filia could only stare as Caroi grasped her hand, as she was the last piece of driftwood in the torrent of madness that drowned their peaceful lives, And Filia did the same thing, for Carol was the last piece of familiarity she had left. As both girls knew, at this very moment, that this was their new reality.

A reality where there would be no more loving parents to provide comfort, making them realize all these years of taking them granted.

A reality where Ms. Victoria would no longer be there to give them a firm but fair hand in discipline, already they'll be more than willing to hear her longest lectures just to see her again.

A reality where they no longer would see the famed trees of Maplecrest that gave its namesake, to no longer smell the scent of the local flowers as they step outside their houses.


Not that both girls could savor this moment of solidarity as rough hands pulled them along, even more low level Medici thugs would man-handle them, wholly uncaring for them and their sentimentality as they dragged once again, this time into the belly of the beast that was the warehouse. All while the van speeds off, already on route back to the heart of New Meridian, leaving both girls to the fates they forcibly assigned to them both to. It is just another Tuesday for them after all.

"In ya' go ladies! Enjoy tha' new amenities ya' two!" A peculiarly burly man throws them, a trend that both girls are getting far too accustomed for comfort, into the back of the caravan where they can hear the bellowing guffaws. The echo of the horrid laughter was echoed throughout the halls as they made t o the main room, which was filled to the brim with women and children, each having the exact same expression.


The expression of utter despair .


"We…are in hell..aren't we Filia." Carol plainly stated, her voice was drained far too much to show emotion. She was…just tired, having gone through a lifetime of turmoil.


Even with her reduced vision due to her heavily damaged eye socket, Filia can still perfectly see the decrepit state of other captives, their simple school uniforms made the school girls stand out like they are nobility with the rags and bloodied threads they wore.

"Yes…" Filia soon answered, the fingers of her hand wrapped Carol's in death grip. "...this is hell." After all, the only two things each girl had left was themselves and , and therefore they cling to each just to make sure that each is and stays real.

---

After a week or so, because truth be told time became something many of the slaves including both Filia and Carol more or less forgot due to the more pressing matters around them, but since their subsequent tenure at this camp. A new "order" began soon form that many of them adopted in an attempt to establish a semblance of normalcy and stability. An unspoken rule if one can call it, and it was.

Try to do what they say the best you can, and try not to get noticed too much.


Carol and Filia both stood out like sore thumbs, the school uniforms despite having long since been dirtied and clung to their skin, providing them with the most disgusting sense of moistness and wetness. But this was still enough to separate them from others, and with Filia's health taking a swift nose dive, Carol was the target of the slaver's attention and given the most humiliating jobs. Because they all viewed the blonde as dead weight, and so Carol gets the near full brunt of the treatment due to Filia's wound festering due to the unsanitary conditions around them

"Since the blond is on death's welcome mat, it's only natural that you ,being her next of "kin", would get the inheritance." was the words of one of the leaders when she was informed of Filia's condition. There was no inkling of humanity or any sense of empathy for life as they simply passed the workload onto herself. But the brunette didn't relent because if they didn't help her, then she would. So worked tirelessly, cleaning the sanguine messes they caused from punishing a "disobedient" captive, cooking the meals for both slave and slavery, to ever being forced to sing just because many of the enforcers were bored. Carol did it with no fanfare and reaction, having rapidly growing numb to horrors became daily life for her.

'She's dying, Filia's dying .' Was all that Carol could think about and is what pushes her , and it showed as the girl would always diligently go back to her side once she is done with the tasks forced upon her, and then further force her exhausted body to further assist her in tending to her the best she can. But no matter how many times she tried washing her damaged eye and then covering it with the least dirty cloth she could work with. Nothing worked as Filia soon lost the energy to properly stand up without herself propping the mafia princess up, and it was getting worse than she could tell.

But during one peculiar morning the number of thugs went down as Carol wasn't hounded by any of their demands or cat calls as many of them were rushing around in a frenzy, something was happening as shouts and other loud noises but Carol paid she reached the storage room on the second floor of the warehouse that housed both her and Filia.

"Oh…Filia…" Carol as she muttered the girl's name as the sight of her best friend was enough to make her weary eyes well up from their nearly dried ducts. Filia was always one of the most attractive girls at school, the apple of everyone's eye was reduced to crumbling shell of her former self. Her weight fell significantly and once radiant light golden hair lost all of their luster as it became matted with dirt and sweat. With quick swallow of air, to calm herself, Carol would knelt down to redo her eye cleaning ritual, trying to be as gentle as she can be. Filia could wince and lightly writhe in pain as Carol's fingers tenderly, she stop having the energy to even toss and turn in her agony

But Filia's hand would grasp her, the skin unnaturally warm and clammy from her infection. Filia would finally muster enough energy to speak and move."You should...just leave and just forget about…" The blond's breathe were labored as it was a herculean effort to even speak now let alone truly move, her words slow and deliberate. Showing how she was choosing to use her energy wisely. "...me. After all…I am the one…who decided that we should go to the harbor…I deser-"

PLAP!

Before she could even finish the sentence as Carol's open palm came across her cheek, her eyes were awake and wild with fresh anger over the stupidity she just heard. Releasing her tears full force.

"Don't you dare go there, Filia! I d-don't ever want to h-hear such a terrible thing from y-you again!" Carol shook the other girl's shoulders wildly. "I-It's not your fault…nor is it mine! The only ones…at fault are the Medici!And you are nothing like these...m-monsters!' Filia's could only look away, feeling her own tears made her only remaining eye glossy and the irreparable socket burn from the saltiness of the tears as all of the emotions and distress she locked away in the mental dam was fully released anger spurred from Filia's defeatist statement

"I won't give up on you, I can't give up on you." Carol huffed before making a wobbly, unstable but most certainly genuine smile she could muster, he intense weariness intermingled with her intense determination combined in a way that made her absolutely manic as she smiled. "Whether you want to or not, you and I are going to live ."

"Wow." An dark sultry voice chuckled, intensely bemused by the scene. "And I thought Easter had a terrible bedside manner. And definitely not a fan of the speech too, reminds me too much of Annie. Cheesy dribble."

Both Blond and Brunette suddenly turned to...see a tall nurse standing before them? Carol immediately stood over Filia as the face-masked woman whose strange eye were downcast for a few good seconds before they twinkled an even more amused glint.

"Who are y-you! A-and what do you want?" Was the natural response someone in Carol's position would ask.

An clear as day outline of a smirk could be seen through the blue haired woman's mask as she would appear before Carol in a manner of nanoseconds , to the brunette it looked like the nurse teleported as her cerebral cortex couldn't hope to even process such a velocity. Nor would she realize the air would smell like plastic as the intruder securely held her head in place as a gas mask attached to a canister pumped its content into her passages. Filling her lungs as Carol fell on the ground slumped.

"C-Carol…" Was all Filia can say before the intruder came over to her.

"Looks like I came here at the right time. But now…" The nurse would place the mask over Filia's face. "....tell me where it hurts ~" The blond girl's sickened state of weakness made her totally unable to fight off the nurse and the insidious lull she brought. The last thing would she see before before the darkness of unconsciousness takes her was the pinkish red eyes of the malicious nurse glowing like a malevolent sun.

With both school girls down and out, the nurse's eyes would return to their previous downcast expression as she pulled out a portable radio.

"Brain Drain, I have captured the two candidates." The voice of the mysterious woman was now cold and emotionless. A far cry from the previous tone she used earlier.

"Excellent, they will both suffice." The masculine voice that came from the radio was cold and mechanical to an extreme. "It was extremely fortunate that we found not one, but two candidates. Bring them to Lab Zero post haste."

"The nurse would close her eye completely. "Understood. Valentine out."

CHAPTER ONE END!


Crossposted on both AO3 and Fanficition.Net