Becoming the Ghoul

Darkness had descended upon my mind, like clouds of the great thunderstorm. Power rushed through me, burning away at my body. This feeling...it was indescribable. I felt both enlightened yet stupid. Able to see all, yet blinded by a dark blacker than black itself.

"This is why I told you that you needed to return to the human world, Tsukune."

My eyes lifted from the body in front of me, not under my control. I knew not if he was dead, but if the blood gushing from his mouth and white eyes were anything to go by, he was very near it. My body focused on the young woman in front of me. Long, shining silver locks cascaded down her back in a waterfall of gray flame. Red eyes gleamed with an unnatural beauty, sorrow and regret and anger fighting for dominance. Beauty incarnate, a body that even Aphrodite would be envious of.

"I am sorry."

With that, a roundhouse kick of immense power collided with my head. I saw it coming, but the surprise had caught me off guard. I knew pain was flaring among my nerves, but I could not feel it. My body was not under my control, and apparently neither were my senses. My body was sent crashing into the ground roughly thirty feet away. A spray of blood left a trail of crimson where it landed, leading from my previous location to my mouth.

"I no longer have a way to save you..."

She was walking towards me, slowly, yet confidently. No hesitation, a purpose in her step.

"Please, do no think badly of me."

Closer she walked. I could feel an excitement not my own welling up deep in my hi-jacked muscles, waiting for the perfect moment to be released.

"I have no other choice."

I knew at that moment, even if it wasn't really me, I would utterly destroy her in our current states. The very voice of insanity laughed deep within my being. No. Not insanity, for that requires a mind. What I felt was not intelligent, not by our world's reckoning. Rather, it was pure malevolence, seeking nothing but death and blood.

"Forgive me."

I resolved in that moment, I would fight with all my strength, all my power, all my will against the beast in control. I may die, but I wouldn't let her be hurt by my hands. Not as long as I still existed.

She came at me with all the strength of the mighty ocean, the grace of the great wind. Kicks each like lightning on steroids aimed with pinpoint accuracy at my broken body. Still, they were slow, as if she were stuck in a dimension where time ran so much slower than ours. Despite my best efforts, the thing that was in real control over myself managed to avoid each lethal strike, every crippling blow. It was like my efforts weren't having any effect at all. What would have been a spear through my chest was quickly dodged, and instead was sent into a slab of rock behind where I had once been.

And still the voice laughed.

My body's opponent smacked the sediment encasing her arm away, and once again turned to me. She looked tired, and yet, still so strong. So sad. So angry.

"MOKA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? IF THAT HAD HIT, HE WOULD BE DEAD!"

Another familiar figure blurred into reality in front of me. Short, blue hair and a yellow cardigan greeted my borrowed vision. I felt the eagerness once again well up within my center, and another sinking thought brought down what was left of me. This friend had just looked death in the face, and turned her back to it.

"Exactly."

Tension had left me, the darkness quieting for once. And this scared me more than the rampaging had done.

"Now, move. It's dangerous."

"I don't hate you at all, Moka. You've always given us help, and I think of us as being best friends. But..."

Two more figures appeared beside my 'protector', eliciting an almost pleasurable response from the dark.

"If you continue to fight, even if it's you we WON'T FORGIVE YOU FOR HURTING TSUKUNE!"

My vision expanded significantly as my eyes widened, muscles coiled like springs of a clock, just waiting for the signal to go. Apparently, the enemy had also noticed.

"I-IDIOT! I TOLD YOU TO MOVE BECAUSE IT WAS DANGEROUS!"

From the moment my legs began moving, I knew what was going to happen. Or so I thought. Even with all my will behind trying to keep the formerly-relaxed body from moving, it was shattered in an instant when, instead of going for the true threat, my body tried to spear one of the three protecting me. Luckily for her, my surprised release had left the darkness somewhat stumbling, missing her heart by inches, and instead shredding through a few layers of skin.

"Kill."

What had once been a cold, unforgiving black became an inferno of greatest blood lust. So powerful was the heat, I knew that soon, I would no longer exist even within what had once been my mind.

"KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL!"

My throat chanted the garbled word, as if worshiping the very thought of bloodshed, of death, of taking crimson paint and smearing it all over the canvas of the world. But I wouldn't allow that to happen. For the darkness had awoken another beast, one when only brute strength was necessary topped all others. Within my deepest layers, righteous anger had been roused at the hurting of yet another friend.

"TSUKUNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Both me and the darkness had noticed her move, slow as she appeared in our shared vision. But now I was calling the shots. I would not allow us to move. I would not allow to be spared. I would not allow us to hurt again.

My reward was pain yet flaring again through my face, this time reaching even me. Another blow caught me in the cheek, smashing my facial structure in. A kick launched into my abdomen, nearly breaking me in half.

"..SAVE TSUKUNE!"

It was too late for salvation for me, but through my damnation, there would be grace enough for them. Four more punches wracked my body, three to the face, and another to the throat. What had been controlling me, instead of laughing in delight, was now howling in despair and anger, for it would not gain what it sought, nor be able to save itself, my body too broken to move.

One slender arm raised back, hand flattened into a spear. This would be the end.

And so I let go.

A/N: Well, I hope this one was as good as the others I've written so far. Obviously, it's a bit more serious. I wanted to try to explain why Tsukune, a fully powered ghoul with all of Moka's power wasn't able to take her down. So, I thought to myself: 'Maybe Tsukune was still somewhat aware, and actively sabotaging himself?' Make of it what you will, but that's just me.

Inspiration: Becoming the Bull - Atreyu

ShadowFaux, out.