AOE Saga: The Hearts of Monsters
Chapter 3: Shallow Heart, Deep Hatred
NegaMorph and Silvia quickly reported to Emperor Hamsterviel's throne room. Hamsterviel was sitting on his throne. He looked down at NegaMorph and Silvia and said, "I have been looking at the recordings of your fight. You two were both trying to kill each other out of hatred. I have only one question for you." "What is it?" said Silvia. "Why didn't you do it?" "Huh?" said NegaMorph. "You both had each other in a helpless position where you could have killed each other but you didn't do it. Of course, one of your deaths will have troubled me quite a bit but I still demand to know why." "I would have killed Silvia," said NegaMorph. "If it hadn't been for this stupid thing in my chest." "What thing in your chest?" asked Hamsterviel. "When I tried to kill Silvia, something in my chest started throbbing and cause a blinding pain in my head. And it wouldn't stop until I stopped thinking about killing Silvia." Hamsterviel nodded and pointed at Silvia. "Now you tell me." Silvia tried to think of the right words to say, "I wanted to slay NegaMorph when I had the chance. But when I saw him in so much pain I felt, um, sorry for him." NegaMorph and Hamsterviel gave Silvia incredulous looks. "'Sorry for him?'" said Hamsterviel. "You hated him and you felt sorry for him when he was in pain." "It's just that I haven't seen anyone so pathetic and weak." NegaMorph gave Silvia a glare. "Whom are you calling pathetic and weak?" he said. Hamsterviel said, "Enough! NegaMorph, I order you to go the lab and find out what' s wrong with you. Silvia, you go training until you get this 'sympathy' out of your system." NegaMorph and Silvia both bowed their heads in acknowledgement and left the throne room. Once they left, Hamsterviel made a worried face. "Silvia's brainwashing starting to wear thin," he muttered to himself. "I'd better renew it before she starts getting unwanted memories."
In the lab, several machines were scanning NegaMorph. Dr. Johnson was looking over the procedure. Finally a sheet of paper came out of one of the machines. Dr. Johnson turned off the scanners. NegaMorph put his coat and hat on and said, "So what's the problem, Doc?" Johnson winced with annoyance and read the paper, "It seems that everything is fine about you. There's just this little matter about your heart." "I don't have a heart," said NegaMorph. "Plasma creatures don't have circulatory systems." "You're correct about the circulatory system," said Dr. Johnson. "But you do have a heart." "What are you talking about?" asked NegaMorph. NegaMorph pressed a few buttons on the computer. An X-ray of NegaMorph appeared on the screen. In the middle of NegaMorph's chest was a small heart-shaped object. "That's your heart," said Dr. Johnson, pointing at the thing in the middle of the X-ray. "It appears that it acts as a conscience, preventing you from doing great acts of evil. Such as killing." "How did that get there?" NegaMorph demanded. "I'm pure evil. I was created from the fusion of seven Shadow Clones, each one had a Deadly Sin power." "It might be because the fusion was an accident so you weren't created to be evil. Also, Morph's Reverse and Reflect attack might have reversed some of the negativity in Shadow Morph." NegaMorph's eyes flared, "Curse that Morph!" he shouted. "First he mutates me and makes me hideous! Now he's given me a conscience! There's nothing I'd like more that to rend his DNA into tiny little pieces!" NegaMorph felt a throbbing in his chest and his head began to ache again. NegaMorph grabbed his head and started groaning. "Stop thinking about that!" yelled Dr. Johnson. NegaMorph forced the thought out of his mind and the pain stopped. "Your heart reacts whenever you think murderous thoughts," explained Dr. Johnson. "If don't stop, it will deconstruct your DNA back into plasma." NegaMorph snapped his mouths and started heading towards the door. "Where are you going?" asked Dr. Johnson. "To get some fresh air," replied NegaMorph as went through the door.
Outside NegaMorph pondered his condition. He was created without intention so he was actually created to be evil. Logically he should be totally evil. But his heart was interfering with that. That heart was very strange. The X-ray showed that it was half the size of a rabbit's, was cardboard thin, and virtually dead. But it started beating when NegaMorph thought about killing. This caused severe pain in his head, where the thoughts were coming from. Does this mean that NegaMorph was supposed to be good? No, impossible, NegaMorph was born on the side of evil and will stay there. However this situation reminded NegaMorph of a song he heard once and he couldn't help but hum a few bars.
I walk a lonely road,
The only road I've ever known.
Don't know where it goes,
But it's home to me
And I walk alone.
I walk this empty street,
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one
And I walk alone.
I walk alone.
I walk alone.
I walk alone.
I walk alone.
My shadow's the only
One that walks beside me.
My shallow heart's the only
Thing that's beating.
Someday I wish
Someone out there will find me.
Till then I walk alone.
NegaMorph's musing was interrupted by a familiar voice. "Hey NegaMorph, Emperor Hamsterviel wants us." NegaMorph turned around and saw Commander Silvia. "Come on, he said it's urgent." She went back inside and NegaMorph followed her.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A new chapter's up today, a new chapter will be up tomorrow. The song is Greenday's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." Please review.