Twisted Temptations
Story by: Kidria
Title Ownage: Celos
Disclaimer: Vana'diel and such belong to SquareEnix, the characters' personalities belong to them and myself, the story belongs to me, title to Celos. Do not steal. I have no rights to Vana'diel, San d'Oria, or any areas/elements belonging to SquareEnix.
Rating: PG-13 for violence, language mostly.

Chapter 13: I Love You... I'll Kill You

Celos shivered, willing the cold night wind to go away. She tried to cover her exposed forearms of her monk's artifact, but her hands were just as cold. There was no warmth this night.

The monk bit her lip, trying to keep her fear down. Ithuthus had taken off in the middle of the night and him alone just meant trouble. She knew she shouldn't go by herself. Something in her monk senses told her that this was a fatal mistake.

Ah, there he was.

"Ithu!" Celos called. The now Beastmaster jumped, turning around, his faithful saber tooth panther cat thing looking up. That's why he changed jobs. In case he was attacked, his pet could help. Smart Ithuthus.

"Cel..." Ithuthus walked over to her. "You're stupid, out here by yourself."

The Elvaan monk placed her fists on her hips. "You ran off! What do you expect?"

"Shh," Ithuthus lifted his finger and pressed it to his lips. "Don't be so loud…don't attract anything."

Celos frowned slightly, but sighed, her ears drooping a bit. "Why are you out here?"

Ithuthus crossed his arms. "I'm afraid to be near Kidria, to be honest. No offense, but she's just creepy now. I still think of her as a good friend and all but... with all this going on, and her knowing who's going to die…" he hung his head with a sigh. "And her not telling us...it's scary."

Celos placed a hand on his shoulder. "I understand. I think the only one who can tolerate her is Daleth, and the only reason he can, is because..." she sighed as well. "He clings to the hope we all abandoned. Kid's never going to be okay again. She's...gone." It hurt her to say that of her baby sister, but Celos could not deny it. Kidria was lost to them all, and all that was left was this insane husk they wish they could depend on. How Daleth could think she'll come back, Celos had no idea.

Clinging to false hopes was never Celos' style of things. She wasn't like Daleth—when Kidria was screaming and throwing that axe around, she knew. Everyone knew. Celos could look at all of them and saw they knew the grim truth. She hated the fact Daleth couldn't accept it, and what was really bad was that this could turn him into a nutcase too. And the last thing anyone needs is a crazy Daleth.

The two sat down next to the saber tooth, letting it rest behind them so they could lean back. Celos pushed back some of her blond hair, both of them silent. What was to talk about? Nothing happy had been going on recently. Their friends dying, her sister gone nuts, and now the murderer was in this very town. Altana knew where it was, but the Goddess never was the kind to simply tell things important like that. At least, not to Celos.

A sudden cold chill slowly trickled down her spine, and Celos felt her hair stand on the ends. The cold felt a little wet...

Ithuthus jerked to his feet and that caused Celos to do the same. She reached to the back of her neck and when she removed her hand, it was bloody. Her eyes grew wide, and when she looked down, the saber tooth's back was cut open. There was no sound—nothing! How could anything be that silent?

A little laugh echoed all around them, and Celos pulled out her weapons.

That's when the night sky moved.

Daleth pushed himself up with a heave of breath, feeling a body flop off him and onto the mattress. He stared down at Kidria, who looked as if in a nightmare. When he touched her, she flinched.

"Celos..." she whispered.

Daleth bit his tongue. Celos was in trouble. He threw the covers off, dressed in his armor and weapons, and ran out of the room, yelling for the others.

Celos punched at the shadow helplessly, throwing in a kick in hopes of at least touching it, feel if it was indeed solid. It only laughed at her, mingling with the night, watching the two desperately try to fight and run at the same time. Dawn was too far away. It would be too late.

Deciding that play was over, the shadow hissed and jumped over Celos. The Elvaan gasped and turned, her eyes widening as it fell on Ithuthus, his axe flying around. A white burst of Holy erupted; however, the shadow simply mended itself and descended onto the Beastmaster again. Celos tried to run to him, but then shadows gripped her ankles, making her immobile. In horror Celos stared, Ithuthus screaming as the shadow slowly faded.

The monk's mouth dropped as the figure of the murderer was revealed as it slowly sucked the life out of her best friend. The shadow bounds faded, and as Ithuthus fell to the ground, his neck ripped open, Celos charged with a loud battle cry. Her body was engulfed in light, the special chi monks special in. And as she ran to it, the murderer turned and looked at her.

She saw its face.

Daleth gagged as they all dragged the remains to the healing house. Ithuthus' body parts were incomplete, they found out, as they tried to piece him back together frantically, out of panic and fear. Kidria paid no mind to their dead friend, however. She was screaming over Celos.

Because Celos was still alive.

The monk clawed at her face, blood pouring out of her empty eyes sockets and her mouth, where her tongue was cut off. Her legs were stumps at her mid-thighs, kicking around in feeble attempts to find the rest of her legs. Kidria screamed, and Celos screamed as well, but was it was gurgled and sounded as if it were a large tub draining. She couldn't see or speak—but she heard everything.

Daleth stared at the writhing Monk. The Tarutaru white mages around tried to cast the highest tier of cures, but none of the spells worked. They poured potions on her, in her mouth, in her eyes, but the blood kept flowing, Celos' pained gurgled shrieks kept echoing as she thrashed in the bloodied bed. It all began to blur in Daleth's mind as shouts filled the room, his eyes going black, making him feel blind.

"Help her!"

"She's dying!"

"Stop her pain, dammit!"

"CELOS!"

"Oh God, Ithuthus...! CELOS!"

"Look at her! Help her!"

Daleth covered his ears, trying desperately to block out the screams. This isn't happening! His mind chanted, over and over. This isn't happening! This isn't happening!

He ripped his hands from his ears, Daleth's eyes growing wide as another voice joined his mind's, sight returning.

"You can see me, but I can't see you..."

The dragoon's mouth opened slightly as he stared at Celos' empty sockets, her tongue-less mouth, all the blood.

"You can hear me and I can hear you..."

The voice grew louder, and louder, mingling with Daleth's desperate thoughts for a reality to this nightmare. For it all the end. And soon he had no voice of his own in his mind. All that was left was that voice. And that riddle.

"You can speak to me but I can't speak to you. Why? Red."

Everyone was screaming, panicking, afraid. All those emotions from them all, the frantic wailing from Kidria, his own fear and pain; it all built up in Daleth's body...in his chest, where it started to burn as if a fire arrow pierced him.

"You can see me, but I can't see you..."

"Celos!"

"We can't heal her! There is some curse—all it does is pain her more!"

"Stop her suffering, please! Somehow!"

"You can hear me and I can hear you..."

"We can't help her..."

"She has to live!"

"Nothing is working on her!"

"You can speak to me but I can't speak to you. Why? Red."

Daleth finally screamed. Louder then anyone's, louder then Celos'. He grabbed his head as everyone stared, eyes widened in fear—In sheer fear. He gripped at his head, shaking. Only Kidria kept howling her sister's name, as the monk laid there, not dying, but suffering every bit of the pain of her wounds.

Help her!

Daleth rushed to the bed and jumped onto it, his lance held high. Everyone ran, but they ran too slow. With a desperate cry, the dragoon slammed the lance down.

"Why?"

Celos' body jerked, and then fell limp. More blood gushed from where the lance pierced her, pouring over into the already red sheets.

"Red."

Kidria's screaming stopped the instant Celos died. Daleth stood on the bed edge, his entire body quaking, and his death grip on the lance forcing it to shake as well. Everyone was slightly, slowly shifting away until the closest one to him was Kidria. She closed her mouth shut tightly as the dragoon slowly let go of his weapon, stepped down, staring with apathy at what he had done.

He turned to Kidria and grabbed her by the collar. She was about to scream for her sister again when Daleth pulled her into a death hug. He grasped so tightly, he heard many of her bones crack and pop. But he didn't care anymore...not after that.

"Daleth." was all he heard from her before his mind left him. All that remained was his broken and bloodied heart.

Kidria opened her mouth slightly to speak again, but only a trickle of blood fell down her chin.