Warning: There will a lot of blood and trauma in this chapter.
Twenty: The Crimson Blood of One…
"These little demons, they come out at night and they mess with my feelings when I turn out the light. … By the time you hear the voice I hear I could just disappear into these things I fear. … To live in this fashion with these songs in my head, a slave to the shadow who sleeps in my bed. He won't give a damn if I'm not who I'm supposed to be, on the other side of me." –'Other Side of Me' by Jules Anna Jones
"Sasha! Sasha!" Raz fell head over heels out of the Transport System stump and flew across the tile floor, barreling into the German Psychonaut, "Sasha! I got it! I can beat Rix! I can get rid of him this time, I'm sure of it! I've got it figured out!"
"Razputin! Control!" Sasha snapped, grabbing the boy's shoulders and holding him away, "Breathe! Calm down, gain control, then explain."
Raz slowed his breathing down, swallowed, and grinned, "I know how to do this, Sasha, I'm pretty sure I got it figured out. I mean, I think I know how to get rid of Rixintine."
Sasha's brow knitted as he frowned at the young Psychonaut. Raz's cheeks were flushed with excitement but there was a ruckus going on inside his mind. Rixintine was furious with Razputin. Because Raz was keeping a secret from him.
"Alright, Razputin," Sasha led the boy over to the Brain Tumbler, "What do you need?"
"First of all, I want to make something absolutely clear." Raz sat down on a vacant chair, "I want to try this first without Triskellion, okay?" Sasha nodded, "And whatever happens, don't pull me out. I can do this by myself. If I get into trouble, I'll get out myself."
"Razputin—."
"And don't tell Milla." Raz smiled, "This is our secret. If she finds out I'm going back in there to face Rixintine again she'll never speak to you or me again!"
Sasha allowed a small smile to filter onto his face, "That's true." The smile disappeared, "Are you ready for this? Dream Fluff? Smelling Salts? Everything?"
"I'm good, Sasha." Raz stood up and stretched, "Let's get this ov—!" He was interrupted by his stomach growling, "On second thought, let's get some food first!"
Lili heard the television going in the TV Lounge and walked up the stairs to see the four boys Raz had been hanging around with earlier watching I Am Legend. She leaned against the doorway, frowning around the room. Raz wasn't there.
"You know the alternate ending to that's better." She said and the boys all looked around at her. She smiled, "Do you know where Raz went?"
"Uhhh…" An olive-skinned boy scratched his head, "He said he had to go somewhere and ran off really quick."
"Do you where he ran off to?"
"No." All four boys said at the same time and then turned around and went back to their movie. Lili sighed and walked out of the Main Lodge. The sun was starting to set lower and lower in the sky and sooner or later it would disappear behind the mountains.
The shadows stretched longer and longer across the ground.
What happened? She wondered as she levitated to the roof top and stood there watching the sun, I thought I broke up with Raz because he'd grown away from me but now I'm trying to chase him all over camp? I mean, yeah, I get angry when I see him but maybe I'm just confused. Maybe I wasn't ready…maybe I went far too fast…
The sky was orange and yellow stained with crimson like streaks of blood.
Or maybe I'm over thinking this and I just need to go find Raz and talk to him…
Raz drained the last of his water and tossed the trash can. Then he stood up and glared at the Brain Tumbler, fists clenched. Beneath his gloves, his palms started to sweat. Rixintine had been silent the whole time Razputin had been eating but the young Psychonaut could sense the anger and frustration bubbling in the ice castle that held his alter ego.
"Are you sure you don't want to take Triskellion with you?" Sasha asked as he took his place at the console.
"I'm sure." Raz replied, snapping his goggles over his emerald eyes, "Besides, that thing scares the daylights out of me. It's creepy."
"Well then, whenever you're ready…" Even the German Psychonaut sounded wary. After Raz's initial mental encounter with Rix, being wary was not a fault.
Razputin swallowed thickly and stepped up to the humming machine. He nodded to Sasha, not trusting himself to speak, and felt the familiar hot poker pull him into vertigo.
"Lili, darling, what are you doing up there!?" Milla called from the balcony in front of the Lodge and Lili leapt down to meet her.
"I was thinking. And kind of looking for Raz." The girl sighed, "I think…I need to talk to him. Do you know where he went?"
"No, actually, I was looking for Sasha. You haven't seen him around, have you?"
"No."
"Hey Raz, long time no see." Rixintine sneered, hands in the pockets of his odd outfit, "What're you keeping from me, Razputin?" The sneer dropped, "Tell me!"
"Shove off!" Raz snapped and dodged past his alter ego, running around the throne and through the door hidden there.
"RAZ!" Rixintine's scream followed him down the long, icey hallway.
It was here somewhere, it had to be, it was the only logical reason why Rixintine hadn't broken down into figments of imagination or just general psychic energy. Raz kicked open door after door but none held what he was looking for. He turned a corner, slipped on the ice and slammed into the wall. His arm smarting, he took off again, kicking open another door. Then he stopped, grinning.
"Found it."
"Don't touch it!" Rix screamed, shooting out of the floor in an explosion of ice crystals, "You can't touch it!"
"Get out of my way!" Raz released a volley of PSI Blasts that knocked his alter ego out of the way and ran towards the swirling sphere of rainbow colored energy. His "Id" personality; the immature, impulsive, self-gratifying part of his mind. Rixintine had tied himself to it somehow and Raz had to sever it.
"There!" A single tendril of black energy that trailed across the floor, twitching like a dying animal, "I've got you now, Rixintine!"
He severed the tendril with a single swipe of his psychic hand.
Chaos erupted.
Rixintine screamed, the ice castle shook, sending large chunks falling from the ceiling, and an explosion of psychic energy sent Raz tumbling through the door. The young Psychonaut slammed against the wall with a yelp of pain and then scrambled out of the way as a mass of ice crashed into the floor where he'd been.
It's collapsing! All of it! Rixintine can't keep it up anymore! And I'm stuck in here! Raz bolted for the exit as fast as his trembling legs could carry him.
"Razputin! Get out of there!" Sasha's urgent voice rang out, "There's an enormous amount of mental energy building up in that castle! Once it's unleashed, everything in that castle will be erased!"
"I'd figured!" Raz shouted back, diving into the throne room and rolling to his feet, "Wait a second…everything's…quiet…"
Silence reigned. The castle was still. Nothing moved except for Raz's heaving chest as he panted for air.
"You idiot." Raz whirled around and felt a scream catch in his throat. Rixintine was standing a few feet away, his features livid with rage, "Do you know what you've done!?"
"Gotten rid of you, I thought!" Raz snapped back but fear traced his voice.
"Oooohhhh, you thought wrong, Razzy…!" Rix hissed, letting a maniacal grin flash briefly across his face, "That Id personality gave me power and, yeah, it anchored me here but I can survive without it. Unfortunately for you, though…that Id personality you severed took away Mr. Nice Rix." The floor rumbled and Rixintine rose into the air, bright orange energy sparking off his body like fire, "Oh, and Raz, I think you should know something…"
"Wha…what?" Raz squeaked out breathlessly.
"I don't like to lose!" Rix brought his hands up in front of him, still levitating in the air, and clenched his fingers into fists.
Spikes created of ice shot out of the floor, knocking Raz off his feet and sending him sprawling. As he pushed himself onto his hands and knees, he heard a sharp whistling behind him and looked over his shoulder.
"Darn it!" Raz threw himself to the side, crossing his arms over his face to protect himself as the hail of ice needles rained down on him. Most of them missed but a fair number of them sliced through Raz's legs and arms, sometimes imbedding into his flesh. A particularly large one cut through his exposed side, drawing a scream of pain from the boy. Rixintine howled with laughter.
Raz got to his feet slowly, one hand pressed over his bleeding side, and held his hand out in front of him. A Confusion Grenade flickered to life but before the Psychonaut could throw it, a PSI-Blast caught him in the gut and sent him sprawling.
"Razputin, Razputin…" Rixintine chided as he crossed his arms over his chest, watching Raz struggle upright again, "Why can't you just accept it? No one likes you anymore; you're the Poster Boy who's faded off the front cover, you're annoying, intrusive, and it's always…about…you!" He blasted Raz off his feet again with another PSI-Blast, "Think about someone else, Raz! Why do you think Lili broke up with you!? Why do you think she likes me more!?"
"She doesn't!" Raz screamed back, wiping blood from his split lip, "You're lying! I know you are! You're LYING!"
"You're lying to yourself." Rix scoffed, unfolding his arms, "You lied to your Dad, you lied to Ozzy, you lied to Sasha and Milla, you lied to Ford, you lied to Oleander, you lied to me…and you lied to Lili." He stretched a hand out, "No one wants you around anymore, Razputin. You're just a conceited liar!"
The ice floor grabbed at Raz's ankles and pulled him to the floor with a crash. Raz cried out in pain and squirmed against the numbing grip but more of the ice latched itself onto his back, causing him to curl over. He turned his head and glared daggers at Rixintine as the ice forced him to bring his knees up to his chest and wrap his arms around his legs.
"Rix…in…tine…!" He grunted out as the cold substance formed over his head and forced him to bury his face in his arms, "I'll…get you…for this if…if it's…the…last…thing…I…"
The ice solidified over the young Psychonaut and Rix grinned. There, perched on a pedestal like a trophy, was Razputin, the Youngest Psychonaut Ever, encased in ice with icey angel wings coming from his back.
A work of art.
Sasha turned away from the control panel as he heard the Brain Tumbler whirring down. Raz stumbled away from the machine, gasping, shaking frost from his hair, and shoving his goggles to the top of his head.
"Razputin, after the eruption of psychic energy I lost all readings." The German Psychonaut strolled up to the boy, "Are you alright?"
"Raz isn't here."
Sasha let out a string of German curse words and lashed out with a PSI-Blast when Rix came to life. Rixintine dodged the shot and then drew his arm into an upper-cut. His psychic claws tore through Sasha's suit, sending a mist of red into the air.
"Don't touch me!" Rixintine snarled as Sasha fell to the floor with a cry of agony, his glasses skittering across the floor, "This is my chance and Raz can't do anything about it!"
Sasha coughed, hacking blood up onto the spotless white tile and rolled over, trying to crawl towards the Transport System. Rix howled with sadistic laughter and fired a highly concentrated burst of psychic energy into the man's leg. There was a crack and Sasha screamed again, crimson smearing across the floor.
"Don't even try it!" Rix hissed and stomped his boot down on the glasses before him, shattering tinted glass, "Bye-bye, Agent Nein! See you in Hell!"
Rixintine kicked the wounded man in the side and leapt up the stairs, leaving red footprints in his wake. Then he vanished through the open hatch of the GPC and disappearing into the night.
Sasha's breath was coming up short, he couldn't get enough oxygen and everything was going fuzzy and black. Pain throbbed through every inch of him. He knew his left leg was broken, Rix had probably cracked a few ribs, and one of his lungs was most likely torn to shreds.
He was going to…
Not like this…
This was it…
Not if I can help it…
Well, this certainly wasn't how he expected it…
M…Milla…I…
Milla stumbled into Lili, a hand to her forehead. Both of them paused on the path from the Parking Lot to the Reception Area as Milla got her breath back.
"Agent Vodello? Are you okay?"
"Darling, I…I think we should go check on Sasha."
"What happened? A premonition?"
"Actually…" Milla's expression was distraught, "It was more like a cry for help."
Raz… Lili thought and then grabbed Milla's hand and ran for the GPC. The path seemed to stretch out before them for miles and miles and Lili's legs wouldn't go any faster and her breath wouldn't come quick enough.
It was the iron smell of blood permeating from the depths of Sasha's lab as they ran down the steps that made her freeze up.
Lili had never liked blood. The sight of it made her stomach churn, the smell made her nauseated, and as she stiffly followed Milla down the rest of the steps, she was nearly sick there and then.
"SASHA!" The Brazilian Agent flew across the room and knelt next to her fallen comrade in a pool of red, tears streaming down her face, "LILI! GET HELP!"
The young Zanotto nodded once, trying to swallow down the bile rising in her throat, flicked her gaze up the stairs, and then raced up them, following the bloody boot prints. As soon as she'd cleared the GPC, she sent out a mental cry for Ford and Oleander, barely able to bring that horrible image to mind to show them what was needed, before breaking off and following the haphazard trail Raz—no, it had to be this Rixintine—had left.
It led to the beach of Lake Oblongata.
"Hello, Lili." His grin was maniacal, his eyes glinting with insanity in the moon and lantern light, "We're finally alone together, just like I always imagined."
"You're not Raz!" Lili shouted, "You're that monster, Rixintine he's always crying about! How could you do that to Sasha!?"
"Because none of you want me to exist and he got in my way! Besides, none of you care about how Raz feels!"
"Don't you dare drag Raz into this!"
"Oh, like you care!" Rixintine laughed out loud, his voice echoing over the still waters of the lake, "You're the one who caused this mess in the fist place!" He leered at her, holding out his hands, palms up," And I think, no matter what he says, Razputin'll thank me for what I'm about to do!" Flames leapt to life in his left hand and a crystalline sword of ice formed over his right hand, it's blade reflecting the firelight, "Ever been in a real psychic battle, Lili?"
Fear pumped adrenaline through Lili, bringing everything into sharp, clear focus.
Rixintine was going to kill her.
She had to defend herself.
Acting on instinct and her training as a Psychonaut, Lili lashed out with her psychic hand.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGG!!" Rixintine howled a blood-curdling scream, his fire vanishing and his ice sword exploding into dust that quickly melted in the thick, summer air. He fell to his knees in the sand, pressing his hands over his face. Blood welled from beneath his fingers, running down his arms and chin, "IT HURTS!!" He continued to scream at the top of his lungs, taking his right hand away, his right eye, surrounded in crimson, widening as he saw his own blood smeared there. His left had was still pressed over the left side of his face but it was clear what Lili had done.
Lili's psychic claws had raked down Rix's face from his forehead, diagonally down across his left eye, across his left cheek, and down the left side of his neck, tearing the collar of his shirt. They weren't deep but they were enough to draw streams of blood like rivers. Lili's hands automatically flew to her face, covering her eyes from the horrible scene.
But she couldn't block out the screams.
Rixintine's cries were agony filled and angry. Lili peered between her fingers and watched as the boy curled up on the sand, still screaming and crying, blood staining the pale sand, water lapping at his heels.
Lili's legs gave out beneath her and she stumbled to her knees. Her mind shut down. The only thing she could think was, I killed him…I killed him…I killed him. The world started spinning. Everything blurred together. The stench of blood made her head reel.
Black.
I left you with another nasty cliffhanger. How cruel am I?
Okay, I've gotta be getting some nasty reviews for this one. Did Rix kill Sasha? Did Lili kill Rix/Raz? Will help reach everyone in time? Am I ever going to stop these awful clichés!?
You'll have to wait until the next chapter.
So, if you want to find out what happens, please, review.
As always, thank you for reading and Happy Halloween!