Raphael cried out in pain as the pain in his head started again, causing him to collapse next to the bed in his room. His hands clumsily reached out and grabbed the dark satin bed sheets, gripping them tightly as his breath remained ragged. He gritted his teeth as the pain continued and sweat dripped from his forehead. He had to get these lustful thoughts out of his head. He had to stop hurting Jessica.
He had to regain control.
"Breathe. J-Just... breathe." Raphael told himself desperately. "Keep...in...control...".
After a moment, the throbbing in his head seemed to slowly go away. Raphael contently sighed and smiled, getting up off the floor. Finally, after numerous attempts, he had won.
But it was a short-lived victory.
Immediately, the pain in Raphael's head reignited itself, causing him to cry out and fall back down to the floor as his hands flew to his head, grabbing his hair tightly. Once more, he began to hear a voice.
His voice.
"Don't deny it" it said, coldly trying to persuade him.
"S-Stop it..." Raphael pleaded, shutting his eyes as tightly as possible in an attempt to find some freedom from the pain and the voice in his head.
"Every single moment you want to see Jessica rive in agony. You enjoy it. You long to see her covered in blood."
"I-I...don't..."
"Why not? She's been your enemy for more than a year now. Why have you all of a sudden started showing this... weakness of yours toward her? Why all of a sudden do you feel attached to her?"
Raphael's eyes opened a bit. The voice did have a point. These protective feelings he had been having toward Jessica recently had come without warning ever since Amy had left him. Was it because he felt sorry for Jessica due to her troubling past? The fact that she wanted to help him?
"Face it, Raphael." the voice said, breaking the sudden silence."You're replacing Amy."
Raphael's eyes widened with shock. Replacing...Amy?
"Liar..." he whispered. The voice in his head seamed to chuckle, amused.
"You're just lying to yourself, Raphael. I'm you, so I know what you truly feel inside. You never loved Amy."
"Shut up..." Raphael mumbled, tears beginning to leak from his eyes.
"You never loved her. You were using her. Deceiving her. You let Dionna take her. And now you've let this other peasant girl into your life and you're caring more for her than you ever did for Amy. All you ever wanted to do to Amy was keep her locked up in your home."
"I said shut- a-aaugh!"
Raphael's plea was abruptly cut off by the pain in his head increasing dramatically, causing him to scream and throw his head back before collapsing completely onto the bed. The voice still continued:
"Now Jessica is locked up and you have the perfect chance to get rid of her forever. So stop denying what you want to do and make her scream more. It's what Dionna has wanted you to do, and it's what you want to do as well."
"No! Ferme ta gueule!" Raphael yelled angrily, attempting to stand. He waited for an answer to his outburst.
But the voice in his head had stopped talking.
Raphael sighed as he stood up, leaning against the bed post for support. He was feeling regret for what he had done to Jessica in the cell. He hung his head in shame as he tried to catch his breath.
"I need to stop this." he said quietly to himself. "I need to free Jessica and-augh!" Once more the pain in his head reignited as soon as soon as it had left him. His hands pulled at his hair and he fell back down to the floor due to the pain. Why wouldn't it end?! Why couldn't the insane part of him just leave him alone?!
"Incredible." Cantero's voice sounded from somewhere in the room. "You've still managed to have a conscious after all this time..."
Raphael looked up and saw Cantero across from him on the other side of the bed, leaning against the wall. At the sight of him, Raphael gritted his teeth in anger. "What do you want?!" he hissed.
Cantero smiled and chuckled slightly. "Me? Nothing, really. I'm just here to help you."
Raphael's eyes narrowed with suspicion. Help him? Yeah right. "Why couldn't Dionna come herself?" he asked, dully. Cantero soon stopped leaning against the wall and began walking toward him. Raphael wanted to get away from him, but his body wouldn't move.
"Oh, she's currently occupied with other things right now." Cantero answered. "Things involving... your daughter. Amy, is it?"
Raphael's eyes widened at the mention of Amy's name.
"Amy was quite the fighter, you know. She wouldn't stop struggling as I carried her away, so I did the only thing I could to make her obedient."Cantero smiled as he noticed Raphael's panic-stricken face. "Oh, don't worry. She's alive. Just unconscious."
Raphael clenched his hands into fists. "I want her back." he said, demandingly. "Now."
"And you shall." Cantero replied, "If you kill Jessica."
"A-...Am I ...dead?" Jessica whispered as the apparition of her mother came closer. She watched as her mother shook her head.
"No, not yet. You're not dead." she answered, kneeling down beside her chained daughter.
Jessica lowered her gaze as her mother placed a delicate hand on her cheek, a saddened, pained look showing on her bloody face. "Why can't I be dead?" she mumbled. "Why can't this life of mine just end? I'm not even useful to anyone."
"Jessica." her mother said in a stern tone of voice. "Don't talk like that. You are useful."
"No I'm not!" Jessica replied. "If I was useful, then all of the people that I'd loved would still be alive!" Memories soon began flooding the young girl's mind, causing tears to steadily leak from her eyes, agitating instead of healing the wounds on her face. After a moment of crying, Jess continued. "I-... I couldn't save you, I couldn't save my f-friends, a-and I couldn't even s-save..." The tears were falling faster now.
"... m-my boyfriend..." she sobbed.
Jessica painfully pulled her legs toward her body and carefully wrapped her blood-stained arms around them, burying her face in her arms as she continued sobbing.
"What makes you think I'm useful?" she asked her mother after lifting her head. "You always told me that I was useful and that things would get better. And they haven't! I'm still as weak as I was before. I still can't witness the death of someone without bursting into tears. I'm still not the brave girl you've wanted me to be. I'm just a disappointment to you!"
Jessica then sighed, calming down. "Sorry, mother." she said, apologetically. "It's just that, with all I've been through since you died..."
"I know." her mother said, a caring gaze embedded in her silver eyes. "I know it's been difficult for you. You're still young, after all." She then smiled. "But even with all that's happened to you, you're still fighting because you want to make me proud, right?"
Jessica nodded her head in response, but only slightly due to the pain.
"And because you're still fighting, that means you haven't given up, and because of that you have made me proud." her mother said, giving Jessica a light kiss on her forehead.
Jessica smiled as she heard those words. Her mother was proud of her. She didn't need to feel ashamed about her life.
"And, to answer your question..." her mother continued, "I believe you are useful because I know that you are tasked with a great burden to protect someone."
"Protect someone?" Jessica asked, confused. "W-Who? And how do I protect him or her?" Her mother stood up, then spoke.
"Your rival, Raphael." she said. "You are the one who is destined to help him fight his lust and ultimately free him from Dionna's grasp."
Jessica's eyes widened as she saw the apparition of her mother begin to walk backwards away from her, fading away more and more the farther they were from each other.
"Use the spell, Jessica" her mother said. "And use it well. You will get your wings again, believe me."
"Mother, wait!" she yelled, desperately extending her arm as far as the chain would allow her. "W-What do you mean?!" Her mother didn't respond, and was almost completely gone from Jessica's sight.
"Mother, please!" Jessica cried.
But the apparition was now completely gone.
"Don't...go..." she said, tears beginning to fall. She was alone, again.
"Your mother isn't here, Jessica." said a cold voice. "She never was. You told me she has been dead for almost six years now."
Jessica's eyes widened as she watched Raphael reappear in front of her cell door, his insane scarlet eyes shining. He continued talking after she noticed him. "Poor you. You must be so eager to die that you're calling for her so that you two can be reunited once again." Raplael then chuckled quietly as he unlocked the door and entered the cell, placing something down on the floor.
"Well, I can help with that." he said, smiling sadistically. "I just need to finish what I started earlier."
Raphael walked over to Jessica and knelt down beside her on her right, his eyes admiring his earlier work. He then noticed the small scar on Jessica's neck: the scar she had gotten after he had bitten her neck the very first time in his life. Raphael smiled. "Speaking of which," he said, using one finger to adjust the position of Jessica's amulet "Kaos never let me finish my meal, now did he?"
Without warning, he wrapped one arm around her and his fangs slowly punctured her neck, causing Jessica to tug against the chains as she tried to escape. But with the chains holding her back, as well as Raphael's tight grasp on her, it was futile. He continued to drink her blood hungrily, seemingly without end, making sure he didn't miss a single drop.
Just when it seemed like he would never stop, Raphael lifted his head and smiled contently as blood dripped from the corners of his mouth. "It's so sweet..." he whispered, quietly but loud enough for Jessica to hear. He then frowned after thinking for a moment.
"Which is strange, considering you're such a..." he spat the next word out like it was poison. "...purehearted girl."
Raphael then wiped his mouth with his sleeve and smiled as he reached over and picked up the object that he had placed on the floor earlier. Jessica could see that it appeared to be a bottle or jar of some sort. It was dark colored, so she couldn't see what was inside it.
"Water heals you, correct?" Raphael asked, still smiling. Jessica nodded her head weakly in reply.
"Good." he replied. "Well Jessica, it just so happens that I have some water right here for you. You should be thanking me right now." Without waiting for a reply, Raphael took the bottle and dumped the liquid onto Jessica. Immediately, she shrieked repeatedly and as the water came into contact with her wounds.
Only cold fresh water healed her wounds. This water wasn't cold, like it should have been.
It was scalding hot, burning her.
Even worse, there was salt mixed in with it, causing the wounds all over her body to sting excruciatingly. She squirmed and pulled against the chains as she continued to scream, only to tire herself out and eventually cause her to stop. Her head dipped downward and her shallow breath was ragged as she tried to recover from shock and exhaustion.
Raphael laughed, amused. "Now that's more like it." he said, smiling. He then looked at the bottle he was holding. "Cantero was right. This would help me." he continued.
He then returned his gaze to Jessica's pain stricken face. "It's so interesting, isn't it?" he asked her. "As long as you have that amulet of yours on you, you won't bleed to death. Your blood will just keep on replenishing itself."
Raphael then frowned, noticing the water seeping into Jessica's wounds. He placed the bottle down and made his way over to Jessica's left. "Hmm, I hope I didn't ruin the taste." he said, once more adjusting the position of Jessica's amulet. "That would be ever so tragic, to ruin such perfectly good blood, wouldn't it?" He then leaned forward and let his fangs puncture the other side of her neck, drinking more of her blood. Slowly at first, then greedily.
After a quiet moment, Jessica finally found the strength to speak.
"M-...Mon-...Monst..." She struggled to get the word to escape from her lips, and it came out stuttered and quiet.
Raphael stopped and lifted his head to look down at her. "What's that, Jessica?" he asked, curiously. "Speak up please. It's impolite to whisper in front of people."
"...M-...Monster..."
Raphael's eyes widened with shock as the word escaped Jessica's mouth. "Don't call me that..." he whispered, pleadingly. Jessica looked up and saw that his eyes had suddenly switched back to burgundy. Her eyes now began to show worry instead of hatred.
"R-Raph...?" she asked, calling out to him quietly.
"Don't call me that!" he yelled angrily as his eyes suddenly switched back to bright scarlet. He furiously slapped Jessica's face with the back of his hand, causing her to cringe from pain.
A sympathetic look began to show on Jessica's face as she realized what was going on. Raphael was struggling.
Anger continued to show on Raphael's face. "D-Don't look at me like that!" he hissed, covering his eyes. "I hate the pity in your eyes!" He then gritted his teeth as he lowered his hand and forced himself to look at her.
Suddenly, he screamed in pain and his hands flew to his head, pulling at his hair.
Jessica's eyes widened. "Raph!" she cried out to him "Fight it!"
Raphael forced himself to sit against the wall, his left hand over where his heart was, grabbing the fabric of his suit tightly. He was gasping for breath, and a pained moan escaped from his mouth as he kept his eyes shut.
"Fight it!" Jessica repeated, desperately trying to get herself closer to him.
Raphael opened his eyes a bit, and he looked at Jessica with a pained expression. His burgundy eyes showed hurt and desperation as he reached forward with his right hand and held Jessica's left hand tightly.
"I-... I'm sorry..." he whispered to her. "I-I can't..." He then abruptly released his grasp on her and screamed in pain once more.
Tears began to leak from Jessica's eyes. She didn't want to see Raphael like this, whether he was her rival or not.
Suddenly, Raphael stopped screaming and got up, grabbing Jessica's right wrist in one hand and a key in the other. Much to Jessica's dismay, his eyes were still scarlet.
"Sorry, Jessica." he said, smiling as he unlocked the chain that held Jessica's right arm back. "I can't stop now, not when there's a whole part of you still undamaged."
Suddenly, Jessica found herself facing the wall as Raphael tightly held her right wrist and flipped her over. She heard the sound of a sword swinging through air, and soon after the tearing of fabric as her back became exposed to Raphael. Completely untouched.
By him, at least.
"Now what have we here?" Raphael asked, tracing two long identical scars on Jessica's back. He then chuckled slightly as he noticed something about the scars. "Jessica, are these self-inflicted?"
Jessica lowered her head, causing her forehead to rest against the cold stone wall. "Y-yes..." she answered, tears beginning to fall from her eyes as she remembered why she had given herself those scars. It had happened only a year ago...
Raphael seemed interested. "Care to explain?" he asked. Jessica hesitated for a moment before speaking up.
"I... I know this sounds hard to believe, but..." she sighed, recalling her past hesitatingly "I used to have... wings."
TO BE CONTINUED
Hello everyone! So sorry everything is taking so long to update, but I have my reasons:
1: I'm in highschool now with three honors classes so I have a ton of homework and almost no free time what-so-ever.
2: Family events are taking away time for free time and homework
3: I have an INSANE issue with dealing with writers block.
Also, I'm trying to make some progress on the one-chapter prequel to this story "Kid Icarus: Downfall" (Kid Icarus and Soul Calibur crossover). This chapter, as well as multiple chapters after (mostly Chapter 22) make refrences to this one, which will become clearer once I put it up.
As always, reviews are extremely appreciated. Keep an eye out for Chapter 22 and Kid Icarus Downfall!
- jbanime36