A/N: This is my first time posting anything to a fiction site. Wooo!
Hopefully I won't screw anything up, but knowing me…
Ah, anyway, this is apparently going to be a multi-chapter fic; it was more or less finished, but all in a glorious bout of epic, epic fail, the latter two thirds of this were lost to Windows, and their obnoxious auto updates. I am still too emo and butthurt about it to rewrite, but I'll get around to it sooner or later.
( Protip: It disintegrates into PWP, eventually. Ahaha… Boy, do I suck. I'll likely not post those parts here, or I'll create a SFW version. Ahur. )
There are a few slight errors in here that I'm aware of ( I believe one personal pronoun screwup, and something else… ) but I'm too blind to find them again. Asakjdf.
…Anyway, this is based right after Echo is sacrificed by Amon, in case it wasn't entirely obvious after reading the first few lines.
Also, Trueman needs moar loevs.
Brutal feedback is much loved, and very much desired.
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There was nothing.
Well, technically, that wasn't entirely the case.
There was something, at least.
Whatever it was she was existing on; some kind of… Partially solid void.
Echo stared off into the black, her nude form laying limp on what she assumed to be the ground. Still not entirely sure if she was conscious, or if what she was experiencing was real, she briefly questioned if it all was just some kind of massive illusion. Her mind was blurred and steeped in haze; what she could salvage from the unforgiving fog was… Alternate dimensions, horrific monsters…
Amon… Returning her love..?
All her fragmented memories were just too absurd. Too absurd for her to imagine, even.
So, she figured, she was ether dead and this was what awaited the human soul after death, or it was, in fact, some kind of twisted reality.
Echo staggered to her feet, and took a few small, ungraceful steps forward. Her mind was so clouded, and her body so tired and sore…
She stood for a moment, her face gathered in her hands. She didn't know how to feel. She was somewhere where all sense was useless, and where there was nowhere to go…
Just as she was about to kneel down, to allow herself to succumb to this void that had so quickly ravished her spirit and claimed her soul, Echo heard a resounding laughter. It was simply too loud and cruel to be anything other then real… The mocking sound gave her the slightest flicker of hope.
She tried to call out; to scream to whoever it was who was laughing, to beg them for some kind of beacon to direct her out of the infinite nothing… But she found that all she was able to muster was a strangled whisper.
Never the type to give up easily when she had more then once choice, Echo ran. She ran to where she hoped the laughter had come from. She ran aimlessly, deeper and deeper into the void of nothing around her…
After what seemed like at least an hour of running, Ekou stopped, taking notice at how she was not the least bit winded after such a physical endeavor. She wanted to run more, to run forever if it meant a chance at finding… Anything that could perhaps mean something within this empty place. Or something along those lines.
She closed her eyes, and sighed; a deep, unexplained sadness washing over her entire being. In her dishearted state, she allowed herself to fall to her knees, her crystalline blue eyes staring hopelessly up into the unending, murky darkness…
Echo heard the laughter again; this time, a different tone - it was a soft, bemused laughter…
It wasn't the type of soft that meant it was far away.
Her eyes widened, and she frantically turned around; behind her she found… Someone.
Maybe…
Whatever it was, it was barely visible in the darkness. It was entirely garbed in black, save for various, unusual linear markings detailing it's somewhat masculine form in a vibrant shade of orange, the defiant color piercing through the darkness, unstained by the ink of the void…
And it's face.
It smirked at her, the being's oddly noticeable sharp-looking teeth giving Echo the first glimpse of white in what seemed like an eternity.
"Hello there. I don't get many visitors, especially here."
She decided whatever it was before her, it was most definitely male. He was sitting cross-legged, his arms folded across his chest. It looked as if he was levitating in mid-air, though surely that couldn't be the case… Though Echo wasn't sure what was safe to believe anymore.
"…Where exactly is here..?" Echo said, her voice still soft and coarse.
"It's rather rude of you to ask me questions before introducing yourself, don't you think?" The man's smile faded, and Echo's heart skipped a beat as she caught glimpse of what she assumed was the beings' eyes; a glint of furious red… Though as she focused, looking at the unusual man more, he was apparently wearing sunglasses, of all things…
"My…My name is Echo…" She whispered, her eyes falling downwards. She was just now remembering to be embarrassed; she was on her knees, nude before some strange man…
"…That's an amazing name."
She could feel him staring at her.
"…Thank you." Still looking downward into the floor she could not see, she was trying her best to fight off the inappropriate blush she was sure she wore on her face.
"…May I be so bold as to inquire what your name is?" She whispered, trying to both not push her luck, and to not to sound rude. She was rather unamused with every aspect of her current situation. A few answers to some basic questions was most definitely not asking too much of her apparent host...
The man slid off whatever it was that he was sitting on, his shoes creating a crisp tap as he landed gracefully before her. Echo half-heartedly wished that she had that kind of reassurance regarding the bizarre invisible floor earlier, before being overcome with terror; what exactly was this man going to do..?
He kneeled down, and Echo looked up; it was obvious to her that he was staring intently at her face through his red-tinted shades. "I don't have a name." he whispered, as he cupped Echo's jaw gently in his hand. It was inhumanly cold, though it's smooth texture felt familiar somehow… "When I am given a purpose, then I will know what my name is."
Echo could not take her eyes off the man's face; despite being unable able to see his eyes, she had only once before seen such a striking sadness…
When Amon's younger brother had become ill…
She placed her hand over his, unable to think of what to say. He was obviously depressed now, but the man seemed to change emotions on a whim. To press for more questions was not something she saw safe to do…
"That's… too bad." She breathed, before beginning to stroke his freezing hand in the hope that it would keep him entranced by her, and presumably, in a consistent state of calmness.
To her dismay, he quickly withdrew from her gentle touch before standing again; his somber expression replaced with a look of utter disgust. If even her strategic mind was worthless in this abysmal place, what shred of worth did she have left…?
"…You have too many questions in your head. They bother me." the fickle being said, the repulsion in his voice so heavy and overwhelming, that Echo couldn't help but feel small and meek in the wake of the man's verbal reprimand…
Her eyes narrowed. Despite still being so very tired and disoriented, she was done playing victim to this godforsaken place. It was only natural that all she could think to do in this bizarre situation was ask questions.
"Well, excuse me for not having any idea what's going on!" She shouted, her voice clear and loud for a brief moment before returning to a strangled yelp, "I wake up as bare as the day I was born in some kind of godforsaken void, my head is throbbing, my entire body aches, and I go out of my way to try and find someone who could perhaps shed a little light on what exactly is going on, excuse the pun, and I find some kind of bipolar freak!? Look, it's not like I woke up in the morning and said, 'Oh, today looks like a great day to-'" Before Echo could finish venting her frustrations, she was interrupted by a fast, blunt force slamming against the right side of her head; the sheer force of the impact sending her topping sideways, the left side of her head breaking her fall with a sickening thump.
"Oh…" The man whispered, smirking slightly as he bent over just enough to adequately inspect Echo's limp form laying before him. Watching with great interest as a pool of liquid formed around her head, he extended his arm; the tips of his thin, slender fingers drawing lines in the crimson puddle.
"Whoops…"