Chapter Four
This part of Vio's dream was vaguely inspired by lumi-nee's "Mind library" on dA. How I loooove the related pictures thingy on the side~ I find such awesome stuff! Also more of Kuro-chan's help! ALL HAIL KURO-CHAN! *bow *
WARNING: The second part is rather gory.
Passing through the tree felt like passing through shadows, but it didn't burn and tear at him like they did. The portal dropped them in a magnificent library, filled with hundreds upon hundreds of books stacked high on sturdy oak shelves. Though the room wasn't well-lit, as to have pity on Vio's shadow-adjusted eyes, there were lanterns everywhere just bright enough to read by. Vio's jaw dropped as he stared around the space.
"What? It's our mind," Dark said from behind him, amusement dancing in his tone. "Of course it's a library."
Vio and Dark strolled through the stacks until they reached a study area with a crackling fire, an oak desk to match the shelves, and a large, winged, throne-like chair. Dark flopped onto it with a happy sigh, grabbing Vio and tugging him down into his lap. "There, now, isn't that comfortable?~" He clapped his hands together. "To plotting!"
"Plotting?" Vio asked, bemused.
"Planning! Figuring out what we're doing! How we're going to fix this!" Dark said. He waved at their surroundings. Vio looked, but he saw nothing out of place.
"I don't understand, Dark?" Vio said slowly.
Dark huffed, crossing his arms. "We can't stay in our mind forever, Temperance! We have to wake up! Take our life back!"
Vio faltered then, lifting a hand to place it over his mark. Thoughts and fears whirled through his mind, too quickly to capture most of them with words. ". . . I don't know if I can. Even if I do wake up, the situation won't improve. I'll still have the mark, and the emptiness...it's like it's tearing my heart from my ribcage...I can't stand it!" His voice rose to a shout and he doubled over, fighting the tears.
A warm hand placed itself over his back, fingers splayed over the raised skin of the hypercandle burns. Dark felt Vio's quick, choked breaths under his hand as he thought, turning Vio's words over in his mind. By now, he knew better than to expect total cooperation from his Temperance so easily. Vio was hurt and confused; there was a lot of damage that he, Dark, would have to undo, and insecurities to overcome. It would take time, but he knew he could talk Vio back to his way of thinking again. He'd done it before.
"So give it to me," Dark said.
Vio sniffled, staring at his lap. "Give you what?"
"The pain. I'll put it to better use than you, anyway," Dark answered calmly, fingers tracing over the burns. Property of. . .
A snort of laughter escaped Vio's lips. "Broken, weakened bones, damaged nerves, malnutrition, and this on top of all of it...What would you do with such things?" Vio asked.
Dark shifted, gripping Vio's chin and forcing their eyes to meet. He wanted, needed Vio to see the burning intensity and drive that he had forgotten they had. Vio needed to see that they would, could make it out of this. "Use them." he said.
Unable to hold Dark's gaze, Vio dropped his eyes to his lap again. His voice came out as nothing more than a whisper. "They'll drive you mad..."
Dark chuckled. "Oh, Vio, you're talking to yourself. Don't you get it? We're already mad."
The absurd correctness of the statement drew another laugh from Vio. "I suppose we are."
They lapsed into silence for a moment, each staring into the flames and thinking. After a time, Vio stood to investigate the shelves. Every book he'd ever read was there, from philosophy to science to swordsmanship to, well, those sorts of books.
But in the back, he found a row of books he'd never seen before. Reaching out to run his fingers along their spines, he understood why. They were his memories, committed to the pages so that they would not be forgotten. He pulled one from the shelf and stood there, reading descriptions of past battles, of the quick work his sword made of his enemies. He clutched the book to his chest and closed his eyes; he knew it would never contain another chapter.
Another pair of hands removed the book from his gasp and shelved it again. "Temperance. . ."
"I'm weak, Dark. Pathetic and useless. Why do you insist on saving me?" Vio asked, head bowed and shoulders slumped.
"Your memory's gone to shit, hasn't it? I told you, I need you." Dark grumped. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm a psychopath. You're my temperance."
Vio snorted. "A psychopath who wants to stay under control, hm? That's a new one."
A roll of blue eyes, and Dark whapped him over the head with another book, drawing a whine from him. "We're supposed to be a hero, genius. Now get your shit together. Even I know me out with nothing to water me down is a bad idea."
"But what will we do, when we wake?" Vio asked, rubbing his head. "You heard Ubel, didn't you? Our body can never use a sword again. What use am I?"
"Swords are weak to pens. You have a use," Dark replied matter-of-factly.
"What about the spell, then? And the mark?" Vio asked.
"You break it. You don't belong to anyone but yourself. You need to remember that. You beat Gufuu, so... it shouldn't be too hard." Dark said, smirking and turning back to the bookshelves.
"But, I needed Master Shadow for that. It wouldn't have been possible without him-"
Dark cut him off, irritated. "Or Red, or Blue, or Green. You're examining one part with greater intensity than the others, like it would have been possible if you had been missing ANY of them. And yet, you don't think you belong to the others, even though they could, theoretically, lay the most claim. You bonded with Shadow. If anyone belongs to anyone, he is more yours than you are his."
Though he couldn't argue with what Dark had said regarding the others being necessary, Vio couldn't help but latch onto the details of the mark. "Then why am I marked, and he isn't?"
Dark heaved a sigh. He was trying to be patient. He really, really was. "Because it's all in your head. You perceive him as being greater, so, he's greater, but he's not really this great thing that you make him out to be... your vision is skewed. He's a child in a tantrum."
Vio thought of Shadow's irrational behavior, his 'no, MINE!' tendencies, his tests, and his habit of lashing out and screaming whenever anyone displeased him. Yes, Vio decided. Shadow very much resembled the children screaming for treats in the market square. A child who, perhaps, had been unfairly taunted with treats before, and-
Another whack snapped Vio from his thoughts, and he yelped, glaring at Dark. "Don't go following that carriage of thought again, Temperance. It's all in your head. Break the illusion. Hunt down every flaw in your image of him, focus on it, watch the whole fall apart. The devil is in the details..."
Break the illusion. . .
Vio let his eyes drift shut, trying to call an image of Shadow to his mind. Either he tried a little too hard, or he forgot that they were in his mind already, because a moment later hands seized him and threw him into the bookshelf, knocking his memories to the floor. Vio's eyes flew open and his breath left him in a whoosh as he fell to his knees.
Shadow's cold, angry eyes glared down at him. "You think you're better than me, you little slut?" he hissed, grasping Vio by the throat and hauling him to his feet. Vio choked and Shadow grinned, slamming him against the bookshelves again. "You are nothing but what I let you be. You're my fucking toy and nothing more, got it?!"
Dark watched the proceedings with a calculating expression, canting his head to the side as he took in every detail of this projection of what Vio thought Shadow was. However, he made no move to aid Vio with anything but his words. "Temperance, we're the original, right? . . How can the shadow be anything but a ghost of us?"
"I am the original," Vio murmured, staring into Shadow's red eyes.
Shadow sneered and threw Vio to the floor, kicking him hard. Vio cried out and curled up to protect himself, but Shadow only laughed at him, plucking books from the shelves. They were memories, all of them, of his father, Green, Red, Blue, Sheik, and Zelda. Shadow threw them at him, their sharp corners smacking his head and flat covers thumping against his ribs. "There's four of you. Three of you are obviously fake. A worthless shit like you isn't an original of anything!"
Well, THAT irritated Dark. He still didn't move to Vio's assistance, but he did tell Shadow off, in the classic Vio way that usually meant people had to think for a minute before they even realized they'd been insulted. "Just because something isn't the whole doesn't make it a fake. If anyone is the fake, it's the one who stares back from the mirror, or lies cowering in the dark."
It didn't take Shadow quite as long as Blue, but he threw the last two books in his hands on top of Vio and rounded on Dark, snarling. "So that makes me less of a person? That's like a Zora claiming you ain't a person because you can't breathe under water, dipshit!"
Unimpressed, Dark yawned and proceeded to clean his ear with his finger. "To them I'm probably not. You know how self-important Zora can be." He flicked the wax at Shadow, who grimaced in disgust and brushed it off his tunic. "Anyway, what matters is the perception, isn't it? Just like, between your anger, your accent, and your current vocabulary, I perceive you to be. . . uneducated, at best."
Shadow snarled and grabbed another book, hurling it at Dark who side-stepped it calmly. "Fuck off, asshole!" He kicked at Vio again, smirking when Vio only whimpered, but didn't try to resist. "I killed him once, and I'll do it again until he fucking STAYS dead!"
Shadow cackled, nudging Vio onto his back and pinning him under his boot, pressing harder and harder until Vio gasped for breath. "Maybe I'll just rape him to death. Wouldn't that be fun? How many dicks do ya think I could fit in that loose ass of yours before ya break, Vio? Hm?~"
Vio whimpered, grasping weakly at the foot and trying to push it off so he could breathe. Shadow laughed at him and pressed harder, grinding his heel against Vio's ribs.
"Please. So crass," Dark drawled with a very obvious, very fake yawn. "Don't you have anything better to do. . . ? Like lick your wounds? You're desperate. Co-dependent. Your life, pathetic as it is, revolves around us. Our pain. Our subservience. . . Or are you trying to hide that from us?" Deep blue eyes burned into Shadow's skull, judging him.
Almost as much as he hated to be dismissed, Shadow hated to be judged. "What? Don't be so full or yourself, asshole! It does not! I'm doin' plenty on my own, ya fucker!"
"Mmm? Like what?" Dark asked, brow arched.
Shadow stomped over to Dark, grabbing the front of his tunic. "Got my own fuckin' domain to run, don't I? And Belial! He means more to me than you ever did."
Dark grimaced and pried Shadow's fingers loose, brushing off his tunic as though he'd come into contact with something distasteful. He kept his voice calm, in contrast to Shadow's anger. "No. Because if he did, you wouldn't still keep us, would you?"
"I can have a lover and a fuck-slave if I want to!" Shadow snapped. "It's all you're good for, anyway!"
Dark went on as though he hadn't been interrupted. "And what is that domain for, really?. . . It's to prove something, isn't it...? That you're not worthless. Not a failure. Not all the things you hiss that we are. Those wouldn't be insults if they weren't what you hated most, weren't what you were afraid of becoming. All humans are alike. Why shouldn't their shades be? You're pathetic, same as you ever were."
"What?! How dare you! My domain has NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!" Shadow screamed. He summoned his sword and swung it at Dark, who dodged with ease and laughed when it struck a bookshelf, and Shadow couldn't get it free.
"Prove it," Dark taunted. "Any of it, all of it."
Shadow banished the blade and rounded on Dark, attempting to intimidate him. Dark stood his ground and held his gaze, arms crossed and brow arched while Shadow spewed the poison that made Vio wilt like a Dark World plant under the Hylian sun. "The other lords fear me. They bow at my feet, and laugh when I fuck you in front of them," Shadow said.
Dark shook his head. "And yet that's not enough for you. It's never enough, is it? What is it that's so empty about you, or about us, to make you that...?"
But Shadow wasn't listening. "Do you remember Dark Zelda's face, and how she enjoyed watching me torment and fuck you? Weren't you the one to say I got it from you? Where the fuck do you think she got it from? I bet your Zelda would fuckin' love to watch you get what you deserve!"
Dark blinked, then sighed heavily, as though Shadow were a particularly dense and disappointing pupil. "Zelda would never. She would rip you apart like tissue. I don't know what influences Dark Zelda... All I know is you. And you, Shadow, are nothing but fifty shades of worthless. . ."
Screaming in fury, Shadow called to his hands two blades this time. Holding one in each hand he charged Dark, intending to cut him down no matter which way he tried to dodge. Dark did nothing but hold out a single finger and swipe it through the air. The blades disintegrated, nothing but fragile graphite before sweeping rubber. "You have no power here," Dark said coldly. "None but what I give you."
Shadow stared from his now-empty hands to Dark in confusion, before his face twisted into an ugly scowl. "You- you! FUCK YOU!" He stomped over to the cowering Vio, yanking him up by the hair and grabbing his face to force a kiss on him.
"See Temperance, this is what he's really like." Dark said, amused by Shadow's temper. "Throw up a wall and block him out, he goes in the back door, like a coward. Are you going to be his weak link, Temperance?"
Shadow broke the kiss, laughing at Dark. "Oh, I'll go in his back door all right. Ya gonna stop me?" he taunted, throwing Vio down on a bed that hadn't been there a moment ago. He clambered atop Vio, pinned his wrists, and groped him hard, cackling when Vio jerked and whimpered under his grasp.
"I don't have to, he will," Dark answered calmly, gesturing to Vio.
"This little weakling?" Shadow glanced down at his broken light, laying supine and staring at the ceiling with tears in his eyes. He hadn't spoken in some time; if they weren't already in his mind, he would have surely retreated there. Shadow grinned and placed a hand on Vio's hip, trailing his fingers down until he could grasp and squeeze Vio's behind. "Look at him, he loves it!"
Vio let out a broken whimper as Shadow continued his molestations. Vio squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip, but didn't fight or push Shadow away. Dark frowned, displeased. This wasn't the behavior he'd been hoping for. "No, he doesn't. And he won't put up with you for much longer. What do you have to offer?"
Snorting, Shadow yanked Vio's tunic up, raking his nails across Vio's chest with every sentence, grinning as Vio cried and squirmed. "I don't gotta offer him shit. He doesn't deserve it! He doesn't deserve anything more than my cock in him! He's lucky I let him cum at all!" Shadow laughed, gripping Vio's chin and tracing red lips with the pad of his thumb before directing his attention back to Dark. "Have you tried his mouth? Here, why don't you join us?~"
Why isn't he fighting? Dark wondered, lips pulled tight in consternation. I thought we made SOME progress. . . "If I join, it will be to kick you in the face, myself," Dark said flatly.
"Your loss," Shadow said with a shrug. He sat back and dragged Vio with him, exposing himself and shoving Vio's face into his groin. "Suck," he ordered.
Vio shot Dark a helpless look, but obeyed, taking Shadow's length into his mouth and sucking it. Shadow groaned and yanked him closer, thrusting more of it into his mouth and making him choke.
Dammit! Dark sighed and shut his eyes. "Shadow, get out of here if you're not going to be helpful. Temperance, stop that whimpering; he's not real." If Vio heard him he didn't answer, except for a lowering of his ears. Shadow certainly FELT real. . .
Shadow grinned wickedly, settling back against the wall and pushing Vio's head down, forcing him to deep throat. "I'm proving a point. He's a lost fucking cause. He -mm - He ain't good for anything BUT this, anymore!"
"Temperance. . ." Dark sighed in disappointment, approaching them. "Vio, am I real?" he asked, his voice calm and level.
Swallowing thickly, Vio pulled back for a moment to answer. ". . . Yes." he whispered. Shadow smacked him for stopping, shoving him onto his back again and pinning him down, tearing Vio's tights and tossing them aside.
"Is Shadow real?" Dark asked, tone unchanged.
Vio looked up at the hate-filled red eyes that loomed over him, felt the hand that clasped his wrists above his head and the other forcing his unresisting legs to spread. He felt the dry heat pressing against his entrance, ready to tear him open yet again. ". . . No."
And like that, Shadow was gone.
Vio flopped back, his breath coming in ragged gasps, and tears dripping down his face. "I can't even fight him in my own mind!"
Dark reached out to him, wiping Vio's tears away with surprising gentleness. "Just reach out and push, Vio. It's a start."
". . . But he's so much more powerful than me. . ." Vio whispered, broken gaze meeting Dark's empathic look.
"Only if you let him be. All you have to do is push. Just push, Temperance."
Vio took a shaky breath to steel his nerves, and closed his eyes. A hand clasped around his throat and pressed him back, another hiking his leg up over Shadow's shoulder. His eyes flew open to look at Shadow again and he froze, unable to fight.
Dark peered down at him over Shadow's shoulder, looking concerned. He held out his hand and Vio seized it, clinging to it like a lifeline. Shadow thrust inside and a pain whine escaped from Vio's lips.
Shadow laughed. "See! Nothing but a useless fucking WHORE, whimpering like a needy little slut!"
Vio clutched Dark's hand tighter, his other hand lashing out to press against Shadow's chest. "Stop. Stop it!" he said, first craven, and then more forcefully. Shadow only laughed at him, thrusting deeper.
"Weak!" he taunted.
Dark gave Vio's hand a reassuring squeeze. "He's a liar, Temperance," Dark said.
"You like everything I'm doing to you, and that's why you won't fight me," Shadow said smugly. He stopped to reposition Vio's legs, the new angle allowing him to press deeper than before. "Tell me you like it, tell me to fuck you harder!" he ordered, tightening his grip on Vio's throat, and relishing in his choked cries. Vio tried again to push him away, but Shadow smacked his hand and backhanded him. "Say it, slut!"
"Temperance. . ." Dark called to him softly, never letting go of Vio's hand. Vio looked back to him, reading the reassurances, the promises in Dark's eyes, those eyes that were his own, and yet were not.
"No," Vio croaked. Dark smiled a gentle smile and tugged on Vio's hand, urging him on.
Shadow, however, was having none of this. He leaned in closer, biting Vio's ear hard enough to draw blood. "What'cha gonna do to stop me? That guy over there? He isn't real. I'm real. And I'm gonna fuckin' torture you until you die for everything you're done to me!" Shadow screamed, slamming into Vio hard enough to make the bed smack the wall, knocking a few books off the nearby shelves.
"Y-You're not real!" Vio shouted, nearly jerking his hand free of Dark's grasp. "You're not, and I.. I won't let you control me!" He screamed as he threw his upper body against Shadow, throwing every ounce of strength he had behind the maneuver.
Laughing, Shadow fell back, separating their bodies. A wide grin stretched across his face, even as his image faded from this sanctuary of Vio's mind. "You're still mine, Vio. You still love me...and I love you."
Vio fell against Dark and grasped at his tunic, panting and shaking. Dark held him, running his fingers through Vio's hair in a soothing gesture. "You did well, Temperance. It's only a starting point, but you did well."
"Worthless Shadow."
"Hero's trash."
"Useless."
The all-too familiar insults echoed in his ears, those that no being had dared to say to his face for nearly two years. His Master allowed it, encouraged it even, by chaining Shadow's wrists together and leashing his collar to the outside of his magnificent carriage, and forcing him to walk during the entire journey through the Demon Lands to Ghirahim's castle.
Shadow was strong, but not indefatigable. By the time they reached Ghirahim's castle his legs were shaking, and his belly rumbled for food. Ghirahim, however, gave Shadow no opportunity to rest.
"I will have my revenge, Shadowed Sky Child, whether from the Sky Child's body. . . or yours." Ghirahim seized Shadow by the back of his now-tattered tunic and they vanished in a sparkle of diamonds.
Oh, no. . . They reappeared in one of the rooms that Shadow had grown to fear, a round room of blue and gray, trimmed with gold and with a golden sun set into the floor. It was a recreation of the first place that Ghirahim had fought the Sky Child, the one who angered him so.
"Change," Ghirahim ordered. The command was simple, but familiar, and it filled Shadow with dread. The bone white of his hair bled to blond, his tunic bleached green, and his pale skin acquired something that resembled a healthy glow. His red eyes blinked and opened blue. His sword and shield shifted, becoming cheap imitations of weapons he'd never seen before. He kept his head bowed and his ears lowered, his bound hands hanging limply in front of him.
"Hm," Ghirahim scoffed, strolling around him in a slow circle. "You're always trying to hide from me, Sky Child. Do you know how that makes me feel inside?" He face twisted into an ugly snarl. "FURIOUS! OUTRAGED! SICK WITH ANGER!"
He vanished and Shadow flinched, looking here and there although he knew he wouldn't see his Master. Still, he could hear him. "This turn of events has left me with a strong appetite for bloodshed." Shadow felt hands on his shoulders and stiffened, his heart rate picking up speed. Ghirahim chuckled, trailing his hands across Shadow's chest. "Oh, Sky Child~ I've waited far too long for this!"
Ghirahim snapped his fingers and a chain shot down from the ceiling, wrapped around Shadow's arms, and yanked them above his head. Shadow cried out as his feet left the floor, the force of it nearly ripping his arms from his sockets. He kicked, and just managed to reach the floor with the tip of his toes, taking some of the pressure off his aching wrists.
A snap of fingers and Ghirahim summoned a black dagger to his hand. He stepped closer to Shadow, dragging the obsidian blade down the front of his tunic, slicing it and drawing a thin line of too-red blood. Shadow whimpered and Ghirahim laughed, leaning in to lick a long line from Shadow's navel to his throat. Pulling back, he grabbed hold of the green fabric and tore it away. He scowled then, clenching his fist and burying his sharp nail in Shadow's side, making him cry out.
"You forgot the chain mail, Shadowed Sky Child," Ghirahim informed him, tone flat and irritated. He pouted like a petulant child whose treat was red instead of his favorite green.
"I-I'm sorry, Master!" Shadow stammered. Ghirahim backhanded him and Shadow fell silent.
Ghirahim sniffed in distaste. "Disappointment," he said. He reached around to the sheath strapped to Shadow's back and drew the sword, studying it. "A poor imitation, just like you, Shadowed Sky Child," he said, swinging it carelessly and leaving a long cut on the outside of Shadow's thigh. Shadow hissed, and Ghirahim huffed, grabbing the fabric and tearing it away.
He strolled around Shadow's exposed form, licking the blade like a lollipop, and slicing Shadow again whenever its sweet syrup ran dry. Shadow never knew when the strikes were coming; his grunts grew to soft cries as the blade sliced into stomach, his back, and his thighs, his lifeblood dripping down his skin. He heard a clatter, and knew Ghirahim had tossed the sword aside. He dreaded what would come next.
A snap of fingers and an intricate blue and gold chest appeared on the floor. Ghirahim knelt to sift through it and Shadow swallowed thickly. Shadow knew where this was going. His lord had painstakingly recreated every item the Sky Child had ever used against him, and he used them all in his revenge when he forced Shadow to take the ancient hero's shape. What else would his lord use this time, besides the sword? The whip that glowed? The bug net? The bellows? Goddesses forbid- the clawshots?
Metal clacked against metal and Ghirahim held up his choice for Shadow to see, reveling in the growing horror and fear filling Shadow's eyes. Ghirahim flicked the beetle's mechanism again, lips quirking as the metal jaws spread wide. He vanished again, reappearing just behind Shadow with their bodies barely brushing.
"Let's see how far you can stretch before I rip you in half, shall we, Sky Child?" Ghirahim purred, lapping his tongue sensuously over Shadow's ear before biting it hard enough to draw blood. He didn't bother with lube, pressing the cold metal of the beetle against Shadow's entrance and slowly forcing it inside.
Shadow whimpered at the intrusion, gasping out pleas for mercy as Ghirahim pushed the beetle's hook inside of him. He squirmed and tugged uselessly on his chains, tears leaking down his face as the metal filled him, cold as ice.
"Oh look, it still fits," Ghirahim crooned. "You're not as loose as you used to be, Shadowed Sky Child. I see you've heeded my warning and not let another take you. Good. Let's see how you tolerate this.~" Ghirahim triggered the mechanism, and the grasping hook opened too abruptly, wrenching a scream from Shadow's throat. He swore he felt something tear, and goddesses how it HURT! Ghirahim chuckled, stepping away to admire the sight of Shadow crying and writhing in pain.
"Please, Master! Take it out, please!" Shadow begged. "Master, I'm sorry!"
"No, Shadowed Sky Child. You deserve it. You're worthless. I can't even trust you to fulfill the one request I specifically gave you." He crossed his arms and tossed his hair out of his face. "That chain is for the new Sky Child. You would not bring him to me, so now it's for you. You will pay for your crimes in blood, Shadowed Sky Child." With that, he grabbed hold of the beetle and twisted.
Shadow screamed and kicked wildly, feeling as though he were being torn apart from the inside out. Ghirahim laughed and yanked the beetle partway out before shoving it in again and again, triggering the mechanism so that it slid a little deeper each time, slicked with blood. Snarling, Ghirahim buried it inside of Shadow's body until his gloved fingers vanished up to the second knuckle and he lost his grip.
Chuckling, Ghirahim withdrew his fingers and stepped back, watching Shadow squirm and cry in pain. "My, my, Sky Child. I seem to have lost your toy. I suppose I'll have to. . . cut it out." His boots clicked on the floor as he stepped around to Shadow's front, snapping his fingers to summon one of his daggers to his hand. A cruel smile played across his lips as he plunged the blade into Shadow's abdomen, cutting through layers of muscle, soft tissue, and organs as easily as warm butter.
Shadow choked on his scream, coughing up mouthfuls of blood as Ghirahim pawed through his insides, ripping apart membranes and slicing spurting blood vessels, heedless of the new red stains on his clothing. Humming a little as he found the torn, bulging section of intestine containing the beetle, Ghirahim cut it open, retrieving the bloodied item. "Oh my, you've gotten it very dirty, Sky Child. Better clean it off," Ghirahim crooned, shoving the beetle-shaped end into Shadow's mouth. Shadow groaned in pain and disgust, but Ghirahim wouldn't let him spit it out.
"Those blue eyes dulled with pain are such a lovely sight, Sky Child, even if you are making a horrible mess. And look at that, your body is already trying to heal," Ghirahim said, shoulders shaking as he laughed. Before his eyes Shadow's entrails were trying to reposition themselves to their proper places, and stitch themselves back together. "Such a loathsome little gadfly. What will it take to kill you, I wonder?"
Humming thoughtfully, Ghirahim strolled back to the chest. He rummaged around with his bloody gloves, searching, searching, until. . . ah. He stood, holding one of the clawshots in hand. Shadow's muffled pleas fell on deaf ears as Ghirahim aimed it at Shadow's stomach and fired, the claw grabbing hold of Shadow's innards. Bracing himself, Ghirahim pressed the release and the chain snapped back. The beetle fell from Shadow's mouth and he shrieked as the clawshot tore his liver free from its place, ligaments stretching until they snapped and blood vessels spurting their contents into the open air. The organ hit the floor and bounced, leaving a bloody trail all the way to Ghirahim's feet. Ghirahim sneered and stomped on it, the soft tissue caving way under his foot like a water-filled sponge.
Shadow hung listless, a growing pool of blackening blood forming on the floor around him. His body tried to heal itself, but the damage was extensive, and he struggled to keep up. Ghirahim picked up the imitation Master Sword from where he'd thrown it, twirling it leisurely between his fingers as he strolled over to where Shadow hung. The illusion of the Sky Child had faded; Shadow didn't have the strength to maintain it. His hair hung limp and gray-black, his eyes a strange purple, halfway between blue and red.
Pausing, Ghirahim frowned, his eyes narrowing. He placed the flat of the blade against Shadow's chest and slid it slowly upwards to press against his neck. For a moment, he held it there, brown eyes staring as purple deepened to red. But in that moment, he didn't see the pleading, subservient red of his usually-obedient slave. No, instead he saw a mocking, brighter red, and in his mind he felt a hand that was not his Master's closing over his hilt, daring to use its power to wield him. A hand that did not understand or care who he was, a hand that didn't even know the name of the rightful Demon King.
A white-hot explosion of anger filled him, and Ghirahim let it consume him, roaring in fury as he swung the blade at Shadow's neck. "DIE, KNIL!"
Shadow's head hit the floor and Ghirahim kicked it into one of the pots around the perimeter of the room so he didn't have to look at those damnable eyes anymore. The sword in his hand disintegrated to nothing, and upon looking back to Shadow's hanging body, Ghirahim saw that it too was dissolving into something like smoke and mist.
It didn't matter. He wouldn't stay dead for long.
Thank you to the Chapter Three reviewers:
KitKatBarStory: Your reviews make me happy.~ So long and detailed! Can't wait to see what you think of Ghirahim!
DarkLinkLovesLink: Sorry no adorable Sheik and Green this time! Maybe next chapter, since Shadow's. . . well. . .
DarkVioletShadows: I saw~ Thank you!
Fourswordslover: Can't say can't say~ But the speculation entertains me.
BrightGreenLights: *Stares at. Giggle *
Moon13Dreams: There's a bonus dungeon of sorts with dark reflections of the four heroes, that's where Kuro-chan said she got the idea for a Dark Vio.
TheAnnoyingVoice: Thank you so much for your amazing review! I see your reply and will reply eventually...
Italy: So mean, Hetalia~ Aw, why hate Dark Vio? Poor Dark Vio. And poor Belial! Still getting so much hate. *sniff *
Aeterni7as: You'll get a pm in a bit... But I hope this one catches you on a good day! Or makes a bad day better!
