Chibiyu: You all must hate me for the cliffhangers, huh?
Nick: As long as it doesn't involve death then I am fine.
Chibiyu: Poopy…(spoiler) I guess you won't like the ending of this chapter then.
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Nick just looked at him, not hint of regret on his face. "You don't believe me?" he asked, earning numerous shakes on the head from the Heroes, but the two youngest hid their faces, shaking slightly. "Then let me prove you wrong."
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The air froze at the Lucas' words. The Heroes all shuddered from the smirk Nick threw in their direction before he turned once more and watched the hall behind him.
"That Necrophere," he said, not looking back at them, "Is only a puppet." Nick faced them again, something dark in his eyes that had the group taking a step back. "He is weak, manipulative, and ignorant. The Four isn't his and it never will be his. He just thinks it is. But he doesn't even carry it. I just made him think that he does."
"W-what are you talking about?" Ray asked, hating her voice for betraying the knee shaking fear she was experiencing.
Nick shook his head, muttering something unheard. "Necrophere, he doesn't even exist except in your wildest nightmares. What you saw before was nothing more than a shadow, taking the form of a memory. Of my memory. Of the Four's memory."
The Heroes watched, utterly captivated, when Nicholas pulled down the collar on his shirt, revealing a black chain. The Villain smiled to himself as he could almost hear his audience's hearts banging against their ribcage, creating a beat he might have once admired. Not even the Normals who lined the walls of the hall made a sound.
"You should have seen this coming," Nick breathed out, as though berating his brothers' blindness. "All of the times I scorned the names of the Heroes, the times I tested myself against Villains," Nick listed off, laughing lightly at the new thought. "And you really should have known when the Four agreed to let me carry it. Valenteen was right – it did sense something in me. It sensed that I still had to make a choice as to what path I was going to take."
"Why?" Joe cut off, trying to hide his ache at his brother's words.
Nick stared at him for a moment, letting them think about this question before he answered. "Because Normals were and still are considered scum. My very name is mud because of the thought of me becoming this; a Villain. We are people and yet no one sees us as human. I intend to change that."
"How?"
Nick snorted, rolling his eyes. "Like I'm going to tell you, Kevin."Nick looked away, eyeing the still bodies of those too shocked to move. "But there is something I will tell you," he whispered, voice dropping to something akin to regret. "Ray, Stella, Macy," he called, looking apologetic. "Can you guys take Eric and Brianna and wait outside? I need to have a chat with my brothers."
The addressed were hesitant, shaking their heads but moving a step back towards the stairs.
Nick smiled at them sadly. "I'm still the same guy. I won't do anything to them. I just need to tell them something private," he vowed, crossing his heart which made Brianna giggled lightly. The three girls nodded, still unsure, but they left anyway.
"Why only Eric and Brianna?"Kevin immediately asked once the girls were out of earshot. "Why did you take your own kind?"
Nick blinked at this, not expecting the heated question. "I didn't take them," he answered truthfully. "They wanted to be here. They wanted to follow the revolution. Brianna is too young and I made a promise to Eric that he would get home. The kid gets homesick."
"Revolution?"
Nick nodded, looking at the Normals again with pride in his eyes. "That is what I wanted to speak about." He walked over, stepping over the spikes without fear and stopping next to the cage that held the girl. He reached in, her instantly grabbing his hand and smiling. "They are great actors, are they not?" The girl laughed all signs of her crying gone.
"However," Nick turned away, his hand slipping through the bars of the cell, "That does not change our shared hatred." The brothers shifted, uncomfortable under Nick's glare. "You both tried to make it right with me, but it was too little too late. It shouldn't have taken a near death experience to make you realize what I can do. And even after that, you didn't do anything new. You didn't protect me. You left it all up to me."
"Nick, we –"
"You should have seen an attack coming! From Valenteen, at the Council – there was even a warning spelled out right in front of you! I expected to be locked up, but I didn't expect you to just leave." There was no denying the burning anger and drowning betrayal lacing Nick's tone. "Florice could have killed me right then and there. What would you have done if she did?" Nick didn't give them time to answer, turning his back and laughing coldly. "It really wouldn't have mattered then, because I would be dead and out of your hair. You wouldn't have to stay up at night, worrying that tomorrow would be my last day. You would be free."
"Hardly!" Joe shouted, cutting off Nick's rant. "Where is this coming from? We know we messed up! It's all Kevin and I seem to do in your eyes. Can't we do anything right?"
"Joe," Kevin warned, watching how Nick's shoulders tensed at these words.
Nick slowly faced them, him pulling the pendant out so the ruby joined his glare. But it was Joe who spoke again.
"Take off that pendant, Nick. Don't make us hurt you."
Nick shook his head. "It's not the Four talking. It's all me."
It was Kevin's turn to scowl. "Then why can't I sense you?" Nick just looked over calmly, shrugging. But it wasn't a secret that Nick knew exactly why Kevin couldn't use his power. "Take off the Four," he commanded, earning a scoff from his younger sibling.
"Make me."
Joe ran forward at the challenge, Nick taking the time to chuckle. He side stepped at the last moment, watching Joe skid to a stop.
"You're going to have to try harder than that."
Kevin frowned at the amusement in Nick's voice, knowing that their brother was only toying with them. But that didn't matter right now. That pendant needed to go.
Joe charged again, nodding to Kevin who took a step closer to Nick. Said brother only rolled his eyes and put his hands in the air. The Heroes watched, astonishment morphing their faces, as two pairs of hands grabbed Nick's arms and yanked him up over their heads.
"If I can outwit you without the Four, what do you intend to do when I actually use it?" Nick asked, dropping down once Joe nearly did a face plant from his quick stop.
"You won't get to use it!" Kevin told him, putting his foot down. "You are going to listen to us and take that thing off. You've made your point, Nick. Stop playing games." The eldest reached over, Nick pulling away just in time for Kevin's fingers to brush open air.
"This isn't a game," the younger snapped, tone going black in a matter of moments. The two Heroes exchanged glances, unable to respond. Kevin sensed the fear rolling off of Joe and ricochet right back. It was the heart pounding, rib cracking fear of them losing their brother to the one thing they promised they would protect him from. They were losing him to the Villains and there may not be a way to get him back.
They only could watch when Nick walked around them, slamming open the doors of cages, unlocking the chains and severing ropes that held the Normals. They could only back up when the small group turned to them, hissing insults and shooting glares.
"How is this a game?" Nick nearly shouted, eyes shining with tears he refused to let fall.
"We're bait!" One Normal screamed at the two, lashing out and slapping Joe in the face. "We die every day because of your incompetence!"
"I'm a slave because I'm seen as useless!" Another boy roared, poking Kevin hard in the chest. "And you can't even open your eyes to sense how wrong this is!"
"Powers run this world," a young girl whispered, hiding behind the legs of another. "This is wrong. Powers just create mean and bad people. Normals never do nothing to start a war."
The group backed away when Nick stepped forward, them making a long aisle for him to walk down. "Is it still a game to you? Our pain and suffering, our fears, how we're treated? Is it all still a game?"
Joe took a step forward, going nose to nose with his brother. "You dare insinuate that we think your wellbeing is some sort of cruel game?"
"I dare speak only but the truth," came Nick's quiet response, his posture not changing even when Joe snarled.
"You think we don't care about any of this?"
Nick smiled and looked down, but he did not back down. "I know you care, but I don't think you know the right thing to do." Joe took a step back, blinking rather rapidly. "And that is what drove us away. You are going to lose, Joe. Brother, or not."
"Joe," Kevin called, knocking into one of the Normals, only to feel nothing. He paused, looking at the figure who seemingly stumbled back, but he knew better. "What a cheap trick," he hissed, grabbing Joe's shirt and pulling him back. "That's not Nick," he whispered into his middle brother's ear. "I can't sense him and the Normals aren't real. He won't let us touch him. Why?"
"Because I don't want to be persuaded to see your side again," Nick answered, obviously having heard Kevin. "I don't want to be drawn in by the pretext of love and be thrown away again." There was no hiding the pain leaking through their brother's dry eyes or the ache making his words crack. "Kevin, perhaps you don't sense me because I am but a shadow of your brother. Or maybe…"he paused, touching the ruby lightly and smiling with eyes far away. "Maybe my presence is being concealed."
Joe's arm shot out, but Nick stepped away from it.
"Trying to hit me?" he guessed, though he knew their intentions well enough.
Kevin just sighed, pushing passed Joe, unable to not shiver when he passed through the seemingly solid bodies of Normals. As soon as his skin touched them, they melted back into the shadows, leaving the corridor wide and empty, all minus the two Normals who hit and poked them. They both ran off, vanishing down the same door Necrophere had before. Kevin reached over slowly, surprised when his younger brother didn't move away. His finger was an inch away from Nick's nose, hovering in the air, shaking slightly.
"Go on, Kevin," Nick taunted, "Prove your theory. Prove that I'm not here, that I'm not a Villain, and that everything that happened here is just fantasy." Kevin went to move, but Nick sighed, sending him a look at sent shivers down the length of his spine. "But if you do, and if I'm not here, then where am I?"
Kevin faltered. There was a beat of silence before Nick began to laugh. He stepped away and stilled. A stone clicked behind him, the exact one that had just sailed through his forehead. The apparition turned and glared at Joe, but a sick smile had formed on his lips.
"Where am I, Joe?" it asked, slinking back into a clump of shadows. "Where is little Nicky?"
Kevin took a step forward, swiping at the shadow, only to find it already gone. But in that one step, a fatal mistake had been made. Kevin didn't even have time to register the pain shooting through his body before the shadows grabbed him.
Joe could only stare, watching the scene flash red with his brother's blood, and scream a terrible, endless scream. He tried to move forward, but his feet didn't obey. He watched dark hands that used to look like his younger brother latch onto Kevin. He watched a dismembered smile flash. He watched his brother get pulled from the spikes and into the darkness.
The darkness from which he would never return.
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Chibiyu:Hmm…Kevin pain. I like what this leads up to…not quite sure if I like hurting Kevin though. Until Next Update!
Written on 1/22/12