Mild Spoilers for the Big Finish Audio 'Zagreus'. Rhyme stolen from that. This is a missing scene, written for the non-fanfiction prompt "You lie on the floor. "Hello," says the voice from your nightmares." I segwayed. :-D And that's why poor Eight is completely and utterly destroyed within the space of 300-or-so words. Have fun! And review, please!
Shiver, shiver, quake, quake.
On the floor.
Symphony of bones and muscles, trembling in time to the pounding of blood in your ears. And that beat in perfect harmony with the unfamiliar voice whispering in your brain.
Zagreus sits inside your head,
Zagreus lives among the dead,
Zagreus sees you in your bed, and-
"Hello," says the voice from your nightmares. Your head jerks spasmodically up. Flash of red. Red, red, red. Red from where?
Red from eyes.
His eyes are red.
Oh, God.
-eats you when you're sleeping.
"Eats you when you're sleeping," you murmur, or maybe you're just thinking it. Either way, the man (the thing, the monster, the god) hears and laughs.
Laughs like twisted shadow, forcing its way down your throat, and your body convulses with the heaviness of darkness in the pool of your belly.
Words, spoken like a hymn of praise, anything but.
It's a struggle to make them out, but-
"At the end of days,
Lies all other ways
Comes when time's a maze, and-"
"All of history's weeping," echo out of your mouth, unwillingly. The blackness has seized your vocal chords. "All of history's weeping. ALL OF HISTORY'S WEEPING. ZAGREUS!"
"Hello," says the voice from your nightmares again. "I've been waiting for you."
You want to run, you want to run as you always have when faced with a decision. You can't run.
Zagreus is my hidden name,
Zagreus is the one to blame,
Zagreus is the Time Lord's shame-
"The secret you've been keeping," says the nightmare.
-the Secret I've been keeping.
You want to run.
You can't.
He is you.
You are him.
You're trapped.
Forever.
F-o-R-e-V-e-r.
F-O-R-E-V-E-R.
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time.