Hope For The Heartless Chapter 21, a black cauldron fanfic

If you've made it this far into my story I will be extremely hurt if you don't leave a freaking comment or review XD. I worked very hard on this thing, the least ya'll could do after reading it is let me know what you think about it. Thanks in advance ya'll! :D

Chapter 21

The Horned King paced his chambers in fury, the crashing storm right outside the walls only fueling his hate.

'Damn those Fates to the lowest level of Hell,' he raged inside his head, a snarl of pure hatred rising out of his throat to echo in the room.

'Their cruelty knows no bounds. They bring me back from the Cauldron, only to tell me that I have a limited time with which to achieve an impossible goal, in order to keep my soul from going back there, to *him*, for all eternity.'

The Horned King could not stop a shiver that coursed through him at this thought. Echoes from the Cauldron threatened to suffocate him, but with an effort, he forcefully shoved them away.

'And then a girl shows up here, and I will admit, for a moment, a fleeting, fragile moment. . .she almost caused me to hope. After I expressly swore not to. Yes, I can hardly believe I allowed myself to fall into that trap. I must be more desperate than I thought to even think of hoping that this might end favorably. Hope is for the weak. Hope is for the pathetic. Hope is nothing but delusion. A delusion the powerful can use to manipulate the weak into doing anything they want. And the Fates have nearly manipulated me. I have become their toy, to dangle the prize in front of and hold it just out of my reach. The very thing I swore not to become! I cannot believe I allowed them to do that to me. Me! The Horned King. The most powerful conquerer the world has ever seen.'

The Horned King snarled again, his eyes a bloody red, as he continued to pace the room.

'Well, no more. This whole thing has been nothing but a game to them. They sent me back with the sole purpose of watching me suffer. Do they enjoy it? Watching me this way. It is true, I deserve no pity nor forgiveness for all I have done, all the souls I have killed, the people, the families, that my soldiers have ripped apart. The lands all laid waste. And I will receive none. My cruelty knows no bounds. I deserve nothing but torture, and when this is over, that is all I will get.'

The Horned King quietened for a moment, contemplating what he knew awaited him when his deadline was up.

'The Fates caused me to let my guard down for a moment by sending me that girl. And she's too young to be of any use to me. The Fates are probably laughing over the good joke they think they have played. I wonder how they will feel when an innocent girl dies for it?'

Getting worked up again, he continued to pace the room, his eyes flashing in the darkness.

'No doubt, they think they have won. They wanted to break me. Cause me to hope, which I so nearly blindly followed after, like one of my own prisoners, that I manipulated with that very emotion. He gave me all I needed, and when he was no longer useful, the things I had promised him. . .he watched them die in front of him. The last thing he felt was the grief of knowing he had betrayed his country, lost his family, and the sword through his chest.'

The Horned King growled softly, murder evident in every ripple of sound.

'I am going back to the Cauldron. That much is blatantly obvious. I am never going to hope, as I am heartless. Utterly so. I cannot feel nor comprehend such things as hope, peace, or love. And therefore, they are things I can never receive. I am the epitome of hopeless in the truest sense of the word.'

Stilling again, he took a deep breath, regaining his control.

'I promised myself one thing before they sent me back. I swore to kill the Pig-Keeper. And I will do so, even if I have to drag him down into the Cauldron with me. He will pay for all the torture I have received, and will receive. The last thing he sees will be my face.'

Fangs bared in cruelest glee at the prospect, he continued pacing.

'The Fates thought they could play a game of cat and mouse with me, hm? Taunting me with something I cannot feel. They will think very differently when an innocent soul dies because of their actions.'

The Horned King's eyes shimmered back into darkness as he calmed himself.

'Its really too bad it will be Avalina who suffers for their mistake.'

"What were you thinking?! You dimwitted idiotic moron!"

The rant of a disembodied voice rang through the air, in a passage deep in the castle that had been cleaned only a few days ago. No more conversations the Invisibles had were held near dirty rooms anymore as a rule, much to a couple's chagrin.

"What I was *thinking* was 'Oh, she seems to be in a bit of a fix, I think I'll help her before her head's removed from her body!"

The sound of another voice answering the rant of the first spat. "Sometimes, its best to help people out while they're still in one piece! Not like your halfwitted idea, waiting til ol' Bonehead brought the guillotine out and *then* you deciding to toss in your two bits' worth!"

A third voice piped in. "Yeah, that idea was awful. I can't believe you actually told us to shut up when we came out with one that was obviously better!"

"But what did I receive for saving the girl's life?" The second voice continued sarcastically. "A token, a medal, a plaque, or some form of gratitude perhaps? Nope! Instead, I get a roundhouse kick to the shin, compliments of the dustmonger over there."

Said dustmonger groaned in exasperation. "I never wanted the girl to be harmed in any way! But the Fates gave us the strictest of orders. We are not to be heard while in the company of anyone other than the master and the goblin."

"Correction!" The third voice interrupted. "We weren't allowed to *Speak* to anyone except the master and the goblin, so there. We can make all the noise we want!"

As if to prove their point, both the second and third Invisibles bellowed loudly, in perfect sync.

"HELLOOOOOOO!"

The shouting echoed loudly through the halls, vibrating through the stones and causing a chunk of mortar to fall out of the wall and splat to the floor, sending pieces everywhere.

Groaning, the first Invisible facepalmed. "You immature brats. YOU are cleaning that up. And you'll both *shut up* if you know what's good for you!"

The second one wheezed in barely restrained mirth. "Whatever you say. . .Dusty."

The two dissolved into laughter as the fourth presence walked around the corner and spied the situation.

"You bellowed?" The fourth asked, clearly oblivious to what had just transpired. This only caused more laughter from the duo, which in turn brought another groan from the first.

"It was just these idiots being stupid, as usual," the first one huffed, with a little more venom than normal.

"Were you lecturing them on letting the girl hear them?" The fourth asked quietly.

"Yes! Yes I was! The Fates will be furious at them for that. Furious at me for not shutting them up quicker. They gave us one job to do, *One job*. . .and those two maniacs can't even do what they're told."

"In all honesty, though, I believe they did the right thing," the fourth one answered kindly. "You know how the Master has absolute zero tolerance for anything less than perfection. He could have killed the poor girl for staring at him like that and not kneeling immediately."

"I don't think he would have this time," the first replied. "Did you see his face when she came in? I have never seen him look like that. He thought he looked completely impassive, but he couldn't fool me. I was standing right by him. He raised his hand out toward her when she entered, like he wanted to. . .welcome her maybe?"

The other two Invisibles, recovered from their laughing fit, came up. "I felt her presence when she walked in the room," the second said. "I actually thought I could reach out and touch it, it was so strong. Apparently Bonehead thought so too."

The pair broke up in cackles again.

". . .Bonehead?" The fourth inquired.

"Oh, yes," the first one grumbled. "They can't even call him by his title anymore. Last week it was SOF. . "

"What?" the fourth asked, confused.

"Stole-On-Fire," the first clarified. "And the week before that it was Randall the Reindeer. . .What a disgrace."

"Yep!" The second one piped, "And a month ago," it broke off, nearly gagging on laughter, before it managed to finish the sentence, "It was Stanley!"

The fourth one choked, doing a valiant effort to control the laughter.

The third one laughed. "You should be very afraid with what we will come up with next, because I promise, they're only going to get worse! Muhahahah!"

The two cackled together madly.

The first Invisible groaned. "May the Fates have mercy on me."

The fourth, after a long moment, and several deep breaths, pulled it together. "I'd ask the Fates to have mercy on the Master instead. With those two he's going to need all he can get."

Here, the first one's voice hardened. "He doesn't deserve mercy."

"True," the fourth replied, "But we shouldn't speak of such things. It isn't our place."

"So does this mean we can lock him in his room?" The second presence asked, a little too eagerly.

"And paint his horns while he's asleep?"

"And make a trapdoor under the rug?"

"Can-we-can-we-can-we-can-we-can-we-can-we. . ."

"No!" The first Invisible shouted over the barrage of questions. "No, you may not!"

Groans and sobs of disappointment broke out immediately.

"Aw, come on!"

"Why not?"

"It'll be fuuuuuuuuuuuuun!"

"Your no fair!"

"Why can't you ever be fun?"

"Your gonna wither up and DIE if you don't start enjoying yourself!"

"Silence!" The first Invisible shouted, causing the groans to die down. "We have a Job to do!" Glaring over at the fourth, it grumbled, "And you're not helping."

"My apologies," the fourth managed out. "I was just having too much fun thinking about the Master getting hit by a trolley in the middle of the night."

Laughter rang all through the hall for many minutes afterward.