100 Morbid Themes Part 2: Morbid Boogaloo
Hi again, everybody! Unlike last time, I don't have much to say in the notes. Thanks to all my reviewers, of course, and also that I didn't mean for the Pai theme here to be a sequel to the Pai theme last time. It just kind of, uh, came out that way. Also, I'm finding more and more that "The Modern Prometheus" (which I really need to update) is all about the body horror.
Disclaimer 1: I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew, Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," or Trip Shakespeare's "Washington Bridge."
Disclaimer 2: Acedia Morales was created by TazzyBizzy, Mickey Millian was created by Mika-chan, and Nina Coppertone was created by XxXChiharu-Chan-1000-SpringsXx.
011. Death (Severance)
It was the first humanoid Chimera she had ever seen. Mostly defeated, it looked like nothing so much as a kneeling woman in an elaborate costume. The way the Chimera's eyes, with their strange horizontal pupils, soundlessly pleaded with her did nothing to bolster her resolve.
But she knew she couldn't be merciful, or she'd never save Tokyo. So she drew her fist back and slammed the brass knuckles into the Chimera's unresisting forehead, calmly announcing her attack as she struck.
For the briefest instant before the Chimera healed into a human, its brains and blood were on her hands.
012. Horror (The Modern Prometheus)
She couldn't believe what the man she loved had become. When she so much as looked at him, it felt like her head was going to break in half. Madness clawed at her mind, perverting the steady tick tick of her clockwork heart into something eldritch and unfamiliar. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to focus on him as he had been. It was no use. The color washed out from the world like she was looking through glass of a hue she couldn't quite identify. After everything she'd been through, she thought she knew from fear. Not even close.
013. Buried
The idea steals upon him in the dead of night, causing his cerulean eyes to snap open. The café, which should be entirely familiar, seems labyrinthian, and he almost loses himself in the twists of corridors he's walked a thousand times.
Eventually, he escapes and throws himself into the midnight park. Trees creak ominously around him, stirred by Plutonian winds, but he is insensible to their laments. His mind sees only long brown hair, mingling with the base earth, kind eyes eaten by worms. Clawing at the soil, he begs the earth to release his lover. There's no one there.
014. Carcass (Severance)
What the hell was this thing? I'd never seen the like. Detective Hirota went up to study it, but I stayed back. Because, really, what the hell? It was clearly dead, lying on a half-smashed second story walkway. But it had been lying here for hours at least, but it hadn't decayed or nothing.
I radioed for some forensic guys. Maybe they'd know what the hell was going on. It was just... A giant, headless dead bird in the middle of the mall. If we had been told what was here, we probably woulda dismissed it as a crank call.
015. Angel of Death
He begins to wash his hands.
The harsh laboratory light gleams against his fingers, pale as bone, and the spots of red shine like polished stone. The oddly-colored blood begins to melt away; as he scrubs at a particularly difficult spot, he remembers other fingers and how short and strange they were. He rubs his fingertips against his palm, the little ghostly touches so reminiscent of her touches. The tiny violet hairs on the back of his hand stand up, electrified by memory.
He doesn't regret opening her up. He misses her touch, but she was only human, after all.
016. Suicide (The Wall around the World)
The concrete supports of the red metal bridge made rings in the river as the mud-blue water whorled lazily around them. This was a nice college, but perhaps it wasn't far enough from Chicago. And Lord knew Acedia needed to get away.
The sharp, unfamiliar air dulled the ache in her soul somewhat, but the world was so horribly mundane. Perhaps she should go somewhere exotic for school, Europe or Asia. Surely there must be somewhere on Earth that still had a spark of the unknown.
But the cold north water looked inviting, so she went to her final adventure.
017. Pseudocide
She was the only thing tethering him to this world. If she were to lose this fight, if she were to die here... There would be no reason for him to go on.
Fighting the monster hurt, worse than anything he'd ever imagined. Giving up would end the pain, he knew. The monster was lenient with his servants. But he persisted, pushing at the walls of his mind until it felt like his soul snapped in two. A life without Ichigo, no matter how easy it'd be, no matter how beautiful the world might become, was no life at all.
018. Smoke
"Aagh!" Ichigo screamed, jumping away from the stove. After a few moments, the kitchen was full of not only smoke, but a loud, shrill beeping. Keiichiro made its way over to her, waving a hand in front of his face.
"What happened this time?" he asked over the alarm.
"I don't know!" she cried, hands over her ears.
After they finally got alarm turned off and the room cleared of smoke, the two of them peered into the burned pot, which was full of brown sludge. Ichigo groaned.
"Looks like I have to start over. Again."
019. Moribund (The Wall around the World)
All of them seemed uncomfortable around Mickey. Initially, she thought it was because she was a latecomer to the group. But she was independent, she told herself, and it didn't matter if they didn't accept her. But even when she'd managed to befriend the other Mews, Nina seemed reluctant to send her into battle.
That clear lack of trust angered Mickey, made her reckless. She needed to prove herself, show up the jerks who were trying to hold her back.
Even when Ryou told her that there'd always been seven Mews, she didn't know what she was in for.
020. Rigor Mortis (The Modern Prometheus)
Corina barely dared breathe. The metal that covered nearly half her body felt heavy and alien, as though it was meant as a shackle. Somehow, the fact that it was skin-warm rather than cool like copper should be made it all the more terrible—that meant it was part of her. She absolutely couldn't move, though her body was screaming with energy, like her humors had been replaced by captured lightning. God save her, she felt like she would spontaneously combust. She couldn't take it any more; she opened her mouth, inhaled a gust of air, and screamed like a thunderstorm.