A/N: As a note, this particular drabble was done for the 'BONUS ANGST' round on an OC Week Challenge. It features such themes as violence and torture, possession, and immolation. Even in small amounts. Proceed with caution if you feel any sort of unease to any of these themes.

What was that, that rhythmic thumping noise? Was that his heartbeat, playing in one ear and echoing into the other?

No, that didn't sound right. Even with his head throbbing in excruciating pain, Xerxes still managed to understand some of the rules of reality. So what was that? Why was it happening? And why did his head hurt so badly?

Blue eyes opened, slowly. It hurt his head to allow even the dimmest of light in the backroom on one of the factory floors through, blinking in apprehension to opening them. He knew he had to, however, or else Marius would have the upper hand. No. That thing was not his little brother; the Ghoul was over with being manipulated into submission to allow the younger Blakk dominance. That thing was no longer Marius Blakk, merely using his body for its shell, its avatar of destruction.

Now he remembered properly why it was he wasn't hearing things correctly, why he tasted copper at the back of his throat, why everything ached and it hurt to breathe. Faint light glistening off the far wall showed him why, a streak of browning red from the door-frame to where he had come to a rest. He inhaled, coughed violently in response, felt something shift in his chest. Coughing gave way to a low groaning whimper, something caught in his throat. He hocked it up and spit it, a bloody chunk of mucus. He was aware that it was impolite under certain circumstances, he was also aware that this was not one of those circumstances. His blood was already on the walls and floor, courtesy was gone out the window when that steel heel had met with his chest.

He moved, slowly. A fire shot up from his chest, causing another fit of wet coughing from him. It almost felt like he was tearing his lungs apart with each inhale, leaving him gasping. He was sure, with the aforementioned kick to his chest, that ribs were at least fractured, if not broken. He turned, braced himself up with one arm, and tried to prop himself up to sit. Every movement shot another string of pain, but with slow methodical shifts, he did eventually manage a position to see the door.

His vision was swimming, but even through the blur and lethargy of creeping head trauma, he could see it. A stocky silhouette was steadily making its way across the room, blocking the light from the factory beyond, a distinct blur of pulsing red glow following the movement of it. He heard the rhythm of the steps, recognized it as that echoing thump he had heard as he came to. The Ghoul knew it was the elder Blakk twisting Marius in the background, keeping the human in control and the beast back. It had come for him now that Marius couldn't fight back against it.

Gaze rose unsteadily to make contact with its red eyes, the defiance against it lessened considerably due to the ambient agony Xerxes suffered even now. He was a big man, as all Blakks inherently were. But even he would admit that he was human, and his little brother's devilish parasite had only worked to solidify that knowledge when it had slammed his ebon-maned head into the door-frame of the back storage room. His head was still spinning from that; if he got out of this, he would certainly need that checked. Funny how he was still able to think coherently, but on some level, he understood that this was a trauma response. If he wasn't suffering the effects of a potential minor concussion, he would have been thinking tactically, and he knew that.

It came to a rest in front of him, gloved hands snatching the lapels of his coat and hauling him off the floor. This close, he could smell the sulfur wafting off the creature wearing his brother's face, strong even above the prominent metal of his own blood. The jerk upward was painful, caused him to cry out against it and whimper in gasps. Blue met red easily enough, a quick dizzying search in the glowing orbs before him showed no sign of the telltale green. Marius was gone.

"How does it feel to finally be at the receiving end, Big Brother." it asked, the trademark dual-toned echo on its voice as it practically spit out his title at him.

Booted feet struggled to find purchase on a floor of slick concrete, failed and surrendered for the time being, falling instead against the broader form of his assailant for some semblance of support. "Y-you're not my little b-brother. You're not M-marius. Ssstop acting like you are." The words came out considerably more stuttered and slurred than he wanted, but he almost expected it to happen. Blunt force trauma tended to do that to people.

It snorted at him, at his blatant defiance, the eyes flashing brighter for a second, a flare through the pulsing veins across its face. "Marius no longer wishes to speak with you. He finds your arrogance and selfishness a nuisance and beneath his want to communicate."

At first, the words stung, an audial whip to rend his bruising flesh. However, the salve came shortly after when he realized something. "I w-want to talk to Marius. Let him say it."

It was an attempt on Xerxes' part to give his little brother the upper hand. The Ghoul may have managed its way to the front, but it did not think with the same linearity as his brother. All he needed to do was get it to relinquish its control on the younger Blakk. He caught the sneer on the beast's face, warped by the needle-like red-tipped teeth set in the jaws. He hoped that he would get just a glimpse of those familiar jade green eyes.

He almost got it. Almost. The Ghoul was left to think on it for about a half minute, giving the elder all the time he needed to begin to bunch himself up, against the pain of his broken sternum. Originally, he wanted to strike out at it, use what he had of physical and mental comprehension to take the beast down. Maybe knock it out, if that would bring back the human mind that was his brother. Something, anything. Tactics changed when he caught a splotch of orange somewhere against the wall nearest the door. His tensing changed, building in a different part of his body.

The Ghoul was not fooled by his attempt to gain dominance. Somehow, he expected this. "I see what you're doing, you sneaky slithering bastard." it hissed, baring those needle teeth at him. "All you Blakks are the same, underhanded gangsters trying to justify yourself beneath an industrial mask. Building on your insatiable ego and appetites to control. You're no different from your father before you."

The grip on his lapels tightened, pulling the collar tight. It made it harder to breathe. "At l-least I can admit it." he replied, trying to get a breath. He was losing consciousness, had to fight to stay awake. At least the stuttering was toning down, the slur beginning to smooth out, even if it still sounded lethargic. "You can't even admit that you're no more than a useless parasite, dependent on that which you hate to survive..."

It was angry now, the glow in its eyes and veins flaring brightly and holding. "How dare you insinuate that I am incapable of being independent!"

"Then leave!" The roar that flew from the elder's mouth surprised even him, that he could get a noise out louder than a strained cough. It caused a small bit of confusion out of the Ghoul as well, who jerked its head back. "If you're so damned independent, then leave and give me Marius back!"

It was boiling with a controlled anger now, the way its face twisted. He was pulled up enough to gain some small traction on the floor, subconsciously using to give himself some stability; he was more concentrated on how close those teeth were to his face, worried that the beast may take an eye with the closing proximity, than he was about keeping on his feet. If the thought had crossed its mind, it was gone in the next moment, concentrating its efforts instead to throw the elder back against the wall, the distorted grin on its face widening at his gasp of renewed pain, the wheezing whimper punctuated once he had been rendered paralyzed and slid down the wall with that steel heel to his chest. It ground into it, a distinct crackling grind of bone and cartilage being twisted, the grin pulling further than any human limit at the continued display of agony from the elder, clawing and trying to push back futilely.

Finally, it stopped, though continued to hold him in place, that blurring streak of glowing red. An echoed bang and shouting voices from far off, as though on another plane of existence. The Ghoul heard it too; it looked over its shoulder toward the door and tried to leave the sputtering engineer against the wall, to flee. The pent energy Xerxes had held on to all this time had been regained in the thought that this masquerading monstrosity would get away now, transferred into wrapping one arm around its lower leg as it attempted to retreat. It whirled around at the hindrance and, upon seeing what held it back, let off a roar somewhere between a human shriek and the sound of metal rails being torn in two, baring its teeth in full at him in pure unrestrained rage. It pulled the leg free with little resistance and went for him, claws shredding through the leather of the gloves on its hand in full display.

A small churring squeak sounded from just under his left arm, a signal that it was ready. He mustered the last of the energy he could to pull free the left Twin from its shoulder holster, aiming the barrel and a peculiarly familiar Flaringo between the eyes of the Ghoul bearing down on him.

"See you in Hell, Little Brother."

The last bit came out a sarcastic spit, complete with a fine spray of blood what had accumulated across his lips from a preexisting head wound. The look on the beast's face twisted, the display lessening as its trajectory began to fall. There was a glimpse of green in those eyes; it was trying to manipulate a response from him by showing him Marius. The younger brother, of course, shared little of the sentiments of his devilish parasite, leveling red-ringed green gaze into his elder's blue.

"Pull it."

Consent given, the recoil on the Blaster slammed him back against the wall with a cry, Nepo immediately catching the younger aflame. There was an inhuman screech, the obnoxious smell of burning hair, and the blur of light from the climbing flames.

Shouting was closest now, the Blaster dropped, and the streaking vision of Neville with nothing short of a small security force in his wake bursting into the room and running for him. The world tilted, the cold concrete barely noticed as he collided with it, numb and limp, fading around the sides of his vision. He let it, succumbed to it, as the world went black with Neville's yells echoing further and further away.