The Grail Games OOC V

Asche Levatte was born and raised in southern France. She lived as a normal girl, attending mass every week with her parents. She loved hearing the stories of love and redemption, and to her the church was a place of comfort and security. Her favorite memories were of her mother staying kneeling at the altar in the church, saying her Hail Marys while Asche slowly wandered the ailes, staring up at the beautiful murals on the wall.

This life of peace and comfort couldn't last though. Asche's life was shattered at the age of eight, when a Dead Apostle went on a rampage in her town, sucking the blood of scores of people and killing many others. Asche's parents were such victims, and she found herself alone and scared while a nightmare raged outside her home. Asche could never forget the fear that night, the terror that the monster would find her too. In her darkest moment, the door of the house opened and she cried in terror that it was the vampire coming to kill her too. But no, it was a kind-looking woman, a nun from the nearby abby looking for survivors after the Executors had swept through. The woman took Asche in to the Abbey of South Haven nearby, giving her a place to live and food to eat. Asche was eternally grateful to the woman, and did all she could to help her. The nun, touched by Asche's devotion to the faith and eagerness to help, gave her duties around the abbey, such as setting up for the services for the women before they arrived. One such day, two years later, as she entered the sanctuary to set up for the service she saw a young girl, a few years younger than herself. She recognized her as a girl that had been brought in not too long ago. She's seen her in the choir before, and Asche could remember how melodious the girl's voice had been.

"What are you doing in here so early?" Asche asked, placing the heavy Bible on the podium before turning to the girl, who looked startled.

"I was talking to God.." she had said. Asche looked up at the statue, arms outstretched at the far end of the chapel.

"What about?" she said, turning back to the younger girl, studying her features more carefully.

"When he was going to bring my mommy back to me," she had replied. Asche sighed and folded her arms, staring out the colorful mosaic windows.

"You should be asking what reason he had for separating you," she said, her voice sounding more mature and reflective. "God has a reason for everything, right? So if you figure out his reason for bringing you here, then it's all worth it."

A few days later, about a month since Tear had been taken in, Asche was told someone would be moving into her room. To her surprise, she recognized the choir girl she'd spoken to in the chapel. They had exchanged words but not names, and now, the girl reached out a hand to Asche and said her name was tear. Asche smiled and accepted her hand. "I'm Asche."

From that point on, the two of them became almost the perfect image of sisters. In fact, a few of the nuns occasionally forgot that they weren't, even though it was common knowledge that they had come from different backgrounds. Asche always seemed mature and caring, and Tear's childish pranks and bouts of selfishness were a sharp contrast. The two of them were constantly in trouble because of something that Tear had done and usually got off with little more than a warning because of Asche's quick thinking.

One night while the two of them lay in their beds, Tear listened to a story that Asche told her of the Executors that had saved her and how she wanted to join them someday. Without thinking twice, Tear made a declaration. "Then, I'll join them too." She rolled over, holding a hand out towards her adopted sister to bridge the gap between their beds. "It's a promise."

So during the day, they went about their chores, and at night, they would study to join the Executors. Asche would start as soon as she got back to the room, and Tear would join her as soon as choir practice was over. The two of them often sat up late into the night, and together, they learned more than anyone at their age should ever know about the darker side of the world.

When the chance finally came, Tear and Asche were able to impress the Executors and were asked to join. Asche, and by extension Tear, had gained her dream. It was hardly glamorous, and was taxing and difficult. But Asche never shied away from hard work. No, she lived for it. She lived for the thought that she would slay protect the innocent from monsters so as to prevent tragedies like what happened to her. But there was something else, something much deeper. She'd hidden it down, far below where neither Sister Andrea nor Tear would ever find it.

Revenge.

Yes, she'd kill that vampire. She'd find and kill it to avenge her village, her parents, the life she would never gain back. That's why she'd been placed in that abbey. That was why she'd met Tear. All of this was ordained so that she could be put in the place to end the life of that vampire once and for all.

Her chance came one day. Rumors came in about that same vampire resurfacing in the Baltic area. Without orders from the Church, she hunted down that vampire. Despite having killed several Executors before, this dreaded vampire was slain by her hand alone. As its body faded to dust before her eyes, a creeping cold entered her soul. No, it wasn't that she'd killed. She'd done that before, to demons and ghouls and lesser vampires alike. It was that her goal of these many years had been accomplished, and she couldn't see past it. What was left for her now? There was a hollowness that suddenly seemed too vast to fill, but -

The Burial Agency. Yes, they'd heard about her exploit, defying the Church and slaying this Dead Apostle alone. She was the type of person they were looking for. Yes, this must be the next step. Asche hesitated for a moment. The life she had before... her time with Tear, small as it may have been, was the closest thing she had to normalcy, but..

She accepted. "I'm sorry, Tear, but this is the right step. I need to hold true it. There's no other way."