Truth's Mask

Wake up Call

"Although bound, thy predator's soul still burns with eternal hatred. Burning, burning, burning...."

(3rd Person)

(They're still speaking French)

    Cav giggled, almost sadistically as she turned around with a smug grin.
"Ohh~ Did I hurt your little feelings, Frenchie boy~?" She sauntered towards him slowly, dragging her hand lightly across the table.

"I'm not French, Kut" Chäss replies, spitting out the final word, although still speaking softly.

At this, Caveira narrowed her eyes, gripping the knife in her hand and gently caressed it against his neck. 
"Then what are you, 'Boceta'~?" She spoke low and tantalizing into his ear through the mask, the cold steel grazing the soft of his neck.
"Because I just think you're a scare little man, hiding behind a mask-"

"Taina, perhaps I should start the talking now" Gustave spoke calmly, pulling out a file from a case, barely empty. 
"If you insist, Médica" Cav sighed, pulling away, making a show of dragging the flat of her blade along Chäss' neck.

Gustave cleared his throat, turning back to Chäss, before glancing down at the file in his hands, twirling a ballpoint pen in his hand slowly.
"So, Chäss, seeing as we don't know.. anything, about you, aside from the obvious, where are you from?"

    He took a much calmer, peaceful process. Speaking un-intimidating as he kept a constant, yet relaxed eye-contact.
"Belgium, or maybe the Netherlands? Seeing as you speak Dutch"

    Chäss sat quietly, staring down at the table, before breaking the silence.
"Ypres. I'm from Ypres" He glanced up, his eyes shadowed by the small slits in his mask.
"Does that answer you question, 'Dokter'?"

   Gustave wrote down a quick note in the file, nodding lightly. "Yes, yes it does."
He cleared his throat, looking back up at Chäss.
"Yet, that doesn't explain why you sound, and speak, French fluently.."

   After a long, silent pause, Chäss sat up, only slightly. He tilted his head to the side, keeping his eyes to the table.
"I was raised somewhere in the French Alps by my Mother before she passed.." He sighed, his voice lowering by the second half of his sentence.

Gustave raised a brow, writing down more notes. "Mmm, the Alps? Beautiful country, I've been there a few times with family." He leaned forward a few inches, speaking quietly.
"What about your family, Chäss?"

Chäss sat unmoved and still, his tone neutral. "Dead"
Gustave was taken aback, before nodding. "How did the-"
"Sister died from a fever. Mother died from a blow to the head"

He looked up, nonchalant eyes barely seen beyond the slits. "My Father... died in a 'hunting accident'." Gustave sat in thought, writing down more.
"Could you tell me more about this accident, Chäss?"

    He didn't respond, his fist still clenched. Understanding, Gustave nodded, glancing down. "Let's leave that for later.. How about after, what then?"
Chäss sighed, unclenching his fist.
   "I was 16.. so I just, lived by myself. I... knew how to shoot, and hunt because of.. him. So I was fine. Lived off the land, learned to paint and draw, remembering scenery."

  "And after that?" Gustave spoke, writing everything down. "How about your name, 'Chäss'? Did you get it from hunting?"
He shrugged lightly, tilting his head more. "It's what my Mother called me. She didn't like what my father named me." "And what did he name you, Chäss?"

He shook his head, still quiet. "Nothing that matters now. I'm just Chäss now"
"No last or middle nam-" "I said it doesn't matter, now" Chäss cut, lightly hitting his clenched hand on the table to emphasize his point.

Gustave simply nodded, raising a hand to calm Chäss down.
"Alright, I won't prod in more." He spoke in a calmed tone, Chäss slowly loosening his fist.
"Family is obviously close to heart, so we won't pull those strings. But however, there is something we must talk about. The elephant in the room."

With a pause, Chäss slowly looked up, staring right into Gustave's eyes.
"What are we to do with you, Chäss? You could be facing life in prison, or tried in an international court for terrorism. But, you're not really a terrorist, are you, Chäss?"

There was a tense silence in the room as Chäss sat unhindered, his shoulders gently rising and falling to his breath.
"Is this a trick question? A lesson through 'the eyes of the beholder'? Or do you truly care for what some Belgian uitschot believes in?"

A soft, warm chuckle filled the room as Gustave smiled. "You're not a terrorist. You're fare too smart for that."
He looked down at the file, having written down everything he heard from Chäss, before pulling out a crisp sheet of printed paper, laying it on the table and gently slides it towards him.
"My boss, surely believes so."

Chäss stared intently down at the paper, his eyes scanning the words.
"...I don't know what this says"
"It's an offer, Chäss. Do you want to make up for everything that has happened? Or would you rather be tried as a threat to the world, and sent into a small room for the rest of your life?"

Chäss sighed, glancing up at Gustave quizzically.
"And what exactly does this 'offer' entail?"

With a small smirk, the French medic glanced at the mirror to his right, nodding lightly.
After a few moments, the door opened, in walking a man with glasses. Simply wearing jeans, t-shirt, and a couple bead-leather bracelets, a stark contrast to the formal uniforms of the two operators.
"That you'll be guaranteed hot meals every day, bed, clean clothes." The man spoke with a smile, even warmer than Gustave's.
"You'll be a free man, Chäss.." He continued softly, taking something from his pocket and places it on the paper before him, pulling away. Revealed was a chess piece, a knight, as well as a circular black and white patch of the world at the north axis, a bold white name in the middle.

RAINBOW

"..with a clear conscious. I can see potential in you, and it would be wasted if you were to turn this offer down."
Chass sighed as he stared down at everything before him, before looking up to the unnamed man.

"Hot meals?"