A fine beam of sunlight struck right on your closed eyes. You looked around, confused. Wondering where am I ? What happened ?. Inspecting the place you woke in, you realized you were in your bedroom. You had no idea of how you got here. You couldn't remember anything? As you tried to get out of the bed, you noticed that you were handcuffed with your hands above your head. You stayed in the bed quietly trying to remember what happened. But something was off like really off. "Why is everything so silent?" You muttered.
"Annie !!!! Annie !!!" You shouted.
Then you heard a noise coming from downstairs. You thought quickly.
"Whoever knocked you down is still in the house, must have taken Annie and the others as hostages. And now he or she maybe they are coming upstairs, probably to check on me." You thought.
The door opened, and a man entered the room, someone you knew quite well.
Y/N : Mr.Edward ?! What are you doing here? What happened?
"So you are wake after all" Edward replied. He walked up to you, taking out his pistol, which made you nervous a little bit. He pointed the pistol at you and saying " I don't know how you manipulated Annie and these youngsters but your journey ends here Mr.Imposter". Suddenly Annie came rushing to upstairs.
Hitch : Annie Wait.
Y/N : Annie, run !!! Mr.Edward lost his mind, he is trying to kill me.
Annie : STOP !!! Mr.Edward stop this please.
Edward : Listen to me Annie, he is not who you think he is. He is not your husband.
Y/N : It's me Y/N ! Mr.Edward stop this nonsense.
You know it was totally pointless because he won't believe you. Like how can someone believe in a man who came back after his death. You quietly stayed on the bed waiting for them to come to a solution.
Edward : Where is that Phoenix ?
Annie : What are you going to do with him ?
Edward : Marlowe, take this so called Y/N and head to the basement.
Marlowe : ....u-understood.
"What is he trying to do now ?" You thought as you walked downstairs. When you entered the basement Annie insisted on going down with you but Mr.Edward refused.
Edward : Annie, there is no need to worry ! If he is an imposter like I said then I will kill him.
Then you closed the door and told Marlowe to tie you on a chair. You sat there motionless without any resistance. Mr.Edrward lightened the oil lamp.
Edward : Well then we proceed with few questions. If you fail to answer my questions in 3-5 seconds then you truly are a dead man.
You nodded at him and patiently waited for his interrogation questions. "I asked few things from Phoenix, if you are not familiar with it ! Just think of it as a flying ball" you heard him say.
Y/N : Then let's begin ! Shall we not ?!
You wanted to with Edward face-to-face to increase the chance that you are the real one not an imposter. But in the semi-darkness you simply couldn't make out exactly how he looked like.
Y/N : Is it me or something is off because I can't remember your face, Mr.Edward.
There were no replies from Edward and the only thing you can see from him was hus glowing eyes in the shadow.
Edward : Who was the commander-in-chief of INI during your service days.
/INI-Imperial Naval Intelligence/
Y/N : It's a high classified information but his name is Davos Tullyfield.
Edward : His actual name.
Y/N : His actual name is little bit of a tricky to recall but it was Breton Artmer Morrowind of house Red Morrowind.
Edward : What is the family motto of house H/N.
/H/N - Household Name/
You answered quickly " Light, Darkness and Death. Meaning is "WE FIGHT IN THE LIGHT OF THE EMPEROR AGAINST DARKNESS AND DEATH IS OUR ONLY ESCAPE FROM DEFEAT "
Still no reply but you stayed calm and waited for the next question. "Your team members during the operation, Code name : Oblivion and name of the planet. " he said.
Operation Oblivion
Planet Spriggan.
Elite units desert operation suit.
Y/N : Operation Oblivion, Planet Spriggan and there were 6 of us and other 4 members of 56th squad.
Edward : Name them.
Y/N : From my men, Sergeant First Class Charles Martinez, sergeant Korolov, Sergeant Wilcox, technical sergeant William and Reagan.
Edward : What was the first mission when you became an INI operative.
"I was sent to planet Icarion to hunt down possible heretics or rebels." You replied.
Edward : What did you find there ?
Y/N : Quawer mutant terrorists.
"Last question." Edward said it in Imperial language.
Edward : Death is a doorway to another war.
Y/N : Reynold Hawkins told me that quote.
Imperial Assassin ( Reynold Hawkins ) of the IGAAB ( Imperial Grand Army Assassin Branch )
Mr.Edward leaned forward, moved out of the shadow "Answer for your question from earlier is that I was professionally trained to interrogate my enemies in any circumstances"
Edward : And it's a special method only used by RSO.
/RSO - Republican/Royal Special Operatives/
Y/N : But was it really necessary then ?
Marlowe quickly untied your hands and Mr.Edward patted on your shoulder saying " How did you come back ? I thought you were dead and believe in me it was really necessary."
Y/N : I have no idea.
You walked upstairs expecting Annie but she was in the living room with Hitch. You opened the basement door and all 3 of you entered the living room. You sat next to Annie and held her hands in your palms.
Edward : Well it seems you were right Annie.
Annie : I'm just glad that you two came to a solution.
-Later that night-
You sat in the middle of a dining table with people that you knew, a pregnant blonde woman, an old man and two 2 friends of Annie, former subordinates of yours. Atmosphere around you was warm and full. Marlowe and Hitch were having a sweet chat with each other, Mr.Edward was reading a book and Annie went to the kitchen to get the dinner the she had previously prepared. But thoughts quickly occupied your mind, thoughts about the future, about Marley and the future outcomes. Among all those thoughts one worried you a lot. The thing Nameless told you.
Nameless : I called you back to the world of the living. Because our contract isn't over yet, remember ?
" What will happen when the contract is fulfilled " you wondered in fear.
" Y/N "
" Y/N "
" Y/N "
" Y/N "
Annie's voice tuned to the tone of curiosity as she couldn't hear a reply from her lover. She pressed her inquisitive palm on your forehead as she looked at you "Dear ?"
Y/N : My lovely Annie, what is it ?
Annie : Are you okay ? Are you feeling well.
" I'm totally fi- " you didn't even finish your sentence before you lost your consciousness.
-Blackout-
You opened your eyes to see the caring face you loved so much. Annie was so beautiful to you with her hair down and untied. You smiled in return to see Annie offering you a dinner and a drink. I must have slept for almost an hour. You slowly sat up to receive her kindness. Suddenly you felt woozy and a headache became apparent. Something about you didn't feel right but you ignored the sensation as you reached for the cup
"Here drink, you'll feel better," Annie said as she reached for your forehead. As she brought it closer you realized it was dark in color. "What is this?" You curiously asked.
"It's medicine. Y/N you haven't been feeling well. You've even started talking in your sleep again, even waking up during the night. You even had a fever last night"
You made eye contact with Annie and asked "How did you know that?"
"Did you forget that I'm a light sleeper? Last night I waited until you feel asleep again. Then I felt your body. You were burning."
You hadn't really noticed your fever. All of the pain from bullets, bruises, and shrapnel must have numbed your senses. You grew up accustomed to discomfort and a fever felt normal to you. You have felt a much hotter sensation from when a enemy shot you with Devil of Fire. A mere fever was like ice in comparison. You immediately backed when sniffed the medicine. The powerful odor singed your nostrils. It must be one of the strongest and awful smelling medicine you have ever smelled.
"Ugh..... wait let me think " you said as you rejected the medicine.
Edward : There is no need to think because that is the strongest and the best medicine against fever. Believe me because I brought it from the ship.
Phoenix : It seems using force is the only option that is left for us.
Y/N : Why you !
"No Y/N, you need to drink it. I'm not going to have you sick and dying on me." Annie said with a slightly firm voice.
You raised a brow as you remembered how much she's changed since you met with her. You had almost forgotten that she had killed in cold blood and is still capable of doing so if the situation called for it. She is just like you if it's necessary for her cause then she will do it without any hesitation. And your days of killing is over but it's Annie we are talking about almost scary, you don't do what she says.
You grunted and proceeded to drink but hesitated as the intrusive smell invaded your nose again.
Y/N : Well I experienced a lot more worse than this.
You quickly tipped the cup to allow the so called medicine to flow down your throat. You almost gagged from the taste of bitterness, mixed with all sorts of herbs you have never tasted before. Marlowe and Hitch watched in horror as you drank the medicine.
Annie smiled and handed your dinner. That was a relief to your eyes. It looked and even smelled better. You needed something to substitute the horrid aftertaste the medicine left behind. Dinner was a mushroom soup and you sipped the soup and told her "Annie, you will always be my amazing cook." She smiled and happily received your compliment.
End of chapter 44