Author's Note:
Wow. Here's another one, so... enjoy it...? Uh, actually, you might not enjoy it because of this little prompt that's about to come up:
PS: ANIMAL CRUELTY! Now that I've got your attention, there's a short scene of animal cruelty down there, so viewers and pig-lovers discreet!
Yeah... just thought I'd warn you. This is an angsty story, so... not exactly puppies and rainbows. Anyways, hit it, Crisper!
Crisper: I don't know... those poor little piggies.
Me: I know, Crisper.
Animal Abuse = Not Cool
I'll give it to people with mental disabilities (as in I won't be so mad), but for people who do it for fun (and are in their right minds), I'm like 'Seriously? Get a wholesome hobby, freak!' Well, before this AN turns into an animal-rights campaign, hit it, Crisper.
Crisper: (hits it)
With an inventory nearly full of stone, near-broken pickaxes, coal and iron, Gill felt like he had actually accomplished something that day. The darkness of the cave previously hadn't bothered him, but with his pockets full, getting home was now top priority. Even though he didn't have a place to call home.
He walked out into the day of light, smiling a bit as the warm rays tickled his face. 'Weird', he thought, 'Was I in that cave too long or what?' He thought to himself before something nudged his foot. He flinched, falling over. He looked around before his eyes met with those of his captor: a pig.
His smile instantly faded as a more painful version of a pig surfaced in front of his mind's eye. But Reuben became the least of his concerns as quickly as he was remembered when he remembered the pig's owner: Jesse.
Jesse had everything... well, not everything. He didn't have the public's eye. He didn't have a shelf lined with trophies and plaques of records. He wasn't the 5-year running champion of Endercon.
Gill could remember every singe year he wiped the floor with Jesse's face. But... was that everything?
He also recalled every year before the championship. Every single year watching Jesse, Olivia, Axel and even that pig Reuben struggling to come up with some handshake that was lame as heck. Then he'd insult Axel for his large size and leave. Next, they'd knock out their competition like it was nothing. Jesse, Olivia, Axel and Reuben would all leave to do something fun, even after losing. Then the next year, they'd all come back as if almost nothing happened.
Gill at first thought that it was stupidity, but getting chased by a giant black monster-thing had apparently done some things to his head. He was seeing it a different way.
Jesse and his gang weren't being a bunch of idiots coming back every year to certain destruction. It was... togetherness. Losing couldn't seperate them, could it?
Now losing did tons to the Ocelots. Aiden would throw a fit. Maya would... also throw a fit. He would throw a fit, as well. Lukas... Lukas would stay quiet, trying to encourage them on how much better the next year would be. Which was natural. Who likes losing? But... it had sort of a lasting effect on them. The insults got harsher, Lukas got quieter, discord ensued, yelling... but Jesse didn't seem to go through any of that. None of them did!
It... it just wasn't fair. He tried to do everything right, he really did. He tried handing out compliments to his teammates. He tried not to get mad when things didn't go his way. But every time he saw Jesse and that pig, he just... lost it.
He was losing it. Right there, in a plain, in the middle of nowhere, lost, scared, alone, nowhere to run or hide but a crack in the ground. He was losing it just thinking about Jesse. A random pig was triggering flashbacks he knew very well that he had, but just didn't like talking about. There was a very good reason he didn't like talking about this kind of thing.
His panting increased and he realized that he was shaking, his eyes watery as he glared at the pig who had the nerve to nudge him again.
"Beat it, you stupid animal." He croaked, his voice shaky with rage. The pig sent him a confused, wall-eyed stare, tilting his head to the side as if questioning Gill's authority. "GET OUTTA HERE!" Gill suddenly screamed, causing the pig to squeal, jerking backwards in fear, but not leaving the scene. "That was your last chance." Gill told the pig before grabbing it by the neck. The small, pink animal squealed in horror before choking up. Gill dragged the animal, ignoring the scuffing of hooves on the stony ground. He felt around his pockets before pulling out the stone-pickaxe he had built before. It was supposed to be used as mining, but now it served a greater purpose: Freeing his mind.
He threw the animal at the stone wall, the painful squeals filling his ears. He was silent as he lunged for the pig as it tried to escape. Straddled over it, he held it to the ground before pulling out a stone and smashing its hind legs with it. The agonized screams heightened as the stone scraped away skin, bloodying the animal as Gill smashed the pig's bones. He kicked the lame pig away from himself, panting heavily before pulling out his pickaxe.
The pig, as if he knew what was about to happen, began another roll of horrific grunts and screams, dragging himself with his front legs but failing miserably. His hooves slipped and scuffed in the puddle of blood surrounding his hind legs. Gill screamed, holding the pickaxe over his head and scaring the pig. He tightened his grip on the weapon before slamming it onto the pig's side. Blood splashed across his face and the pig writhed in agony, kicking its legs at unimaginable speed. For a few seconds, Gill just stared at it, feeling nothing. There was no fear in his eyes, no obvious pleasure. Only a dull sensation overwhelmed him.
He almost forgot why he was doing this. Almost.
His eye twitched as his anger took control. Screaming loudly, he wrenched the weapon from the swine's bloody stomach and brought it down again, ripping flesh and ribs all while the pig screamed and kicked. His own loud screams turned to sobs and tears spilled from his own eyes as he slashed at the dying animal. He dropped the pickaxe, falling to his knees and weeping.
"I HATE YOU, JESSE! IT'S NOT FAIR! I HATE YOU SO MUCH!" He cried to the sky, sobbing deeply and trembling violently before he eased to the floor, lying in the pigs blood as the animal gave a last kick before blood-loss and fear claimed his life.
He lay next to the pig, the smell of blood much less than overpowering as he cried softly. He teased the pickaxe out of the pig before allowing it to drop to the floor. His black beard was wet with tears and drops of blood. His right eye burned as tears left it. After taking a few minutes to compose himself, he dizzily stood to his feet, his head pounding from crying.
He looked at the mess of dead flesh, bones, blood and stone before him. Feeling a bit sorry for the pig, he dropped his pickaxe and left to clean his hands. He didn't want to remember it.
POV Switch
Maybe it was because they were all tired and hungry. Maybe it was because of the thing creeping up his arms. Maya, however, didn't care that he was going slower than usual and she caught up with him in mere seconds after his attempted escape.
"Aiden! What's wrong with you? What's that on your arms?"
"Would you stop asking questions?!" Aiden snapped back, clearly enfuriated.
"I'm not gonna stop until I get answers, Aiden."
"Geez, and since when were you so concerned about my well-being, Maya?!" Maya's eyes widened in surprise and her cheeks turned slightly pink. She formed her lips to say something, but the words were all stuck in her neck. She quickly... did nothing.
Aiden shot her a weird glance, obviously not sure of her mental-capacity at the moment. Was she staring at his arms or something? Were they really that bad? No. News-flash, but she was staring at his face, into his eyes.
This was really awkward.
"Um... it was, um..." She felt like her brain had upped and left her, leaving her with a numb head full of fluid. All memory was gone and the world was a light, blurry mess of color. Her lips quivered as she fumbled for a sentence.
"Whatever." He interrupted, staring right at her. "Let's just get some more food before Gill comes back here to chew out our blocks." He demanded, walking back to the pond and leaving Maya in a stupor. Maya shook the bits from her head and scurried until she was a few blocks behind him.
She stared at him from behind as they walked in silence. He sat on one side of their fishing-pong and she took the other, both of them avoiding eye contact.
"Aiden..."
"If you're going to pry me again, I suggest you don't."
"... okay. I just wanted to tell you that I've been caring about you." There was nothing but silence. Aiden glanced down at the pond, seeing his fishing rod in it.
"Wow... okay." Sarcasm was beautifully laced on his words, a sardonic grin coming across his face. "That's a lot coming from someone who never once showed it."
"How could you say that?"
"You didn't care about me, Maya. You only cared about winning. In fact, the only thing you're concerned about now is winning me over to get me to spill some beans about something that doesn't even matter."
"Aiden, that's not what-"
"Just shut up and fish, Maya."
"Not until you tell me what's wrong with your hands." She repeated determinedly. Aiden sent her a troubling stare, glaring right into her soul with piercing eyes that used to be soft like grass.
"Then I'll shut up and fish." He said coldly, taking the fishing rod from her hands. She was too stunned to react, only letting him pull it out of her grasp. He tossed the fishing hook a few blocks away from himself and stared angrily at the pond. Maya watched his face for a few seconds, sighing with exhaustion. She stood up and began to walk away. Aiden glanced at her. "Where are you going?" He asked almost accusingly.
"I'm... just gonna walk around." She told him. Aiden took one glance at the sky before deciding that life had other plans.
"No, it's about to get dark out." He told her, watching the sun with his green eyes.
"Then we need to find Gill, then." She said. Aiden rolled his eyes, tossing the fishing-rod down and standing to his feet. He cringed when his body weight shifted to his hands and arms as he pushed himself off the ground.
"Let's go, then." He said, walking right past her and assuming leadership.
"You have to stay here and fish, Aiden."
"Oh, so that you can get torn to part by zombies?" He asked. She raised her finger to protest. "Blown up by Creepers?" He interrupted. Maya doggedly prepared to speak. "Shot by skeletons?! Eaten by wolves, Maya?!" He was yelling at her now, walking up to her until her back was up against the tree. "Is that what you want, Maya? To get killed?!" She stayed silent for a few seconds.
"No."
"Then you need to shut up and listen. I'm in charge, you hear?" He yelled firmly, his green eyes darker than the sky above their heads.
"Fine." She finally agreed. He sent her one last burning look before backing away and walking off, not fully caring that she was a few paces behind him.
POV Switch
Gill stared at the sky, seeing the pale blue fading into a yellowish-red haze. Nighttime was approaching, obviously, and there needn't be more said about the tragic events that followed the setting sun. Back to camp it was, he had decided.
'Great. More stupid Aiden and naive Maya' he thought to himself as the dry grass gave character to his heave footsteps. He walked a bit more before suddenly stopping, clamping a hand over the right side of his face as it was overwhelmed with blinding pain. Literally. He couldn't see. In accompany to the stinging sensation that claimed his cheek, his eye felt like it was full of dry, gritty clumps of sand.
'Okay, this isn't natural' he thought, tensing up as the pain slowly intensified. After a few more seconds, the heat reached its climax, blowing over after a few more seconds of pain. As it died down, Gill slowly removed his hand from his eye, seeing that it was wet with tears. He felt a bit shaky from the half-minute of torture and continued on, musing to himself about it.
POV Switch
Maya dreaded silence enough as it was.
'What is he hiding?! Why isn't he telling me?!' She mused frustratedly, unintentionally giving him an angry glare. Aiden, as if having had sensed her eyes on his back, turned his head to face her. She flinched, instantly looking away. Aiden said nothing and faced the dark road ahead of himself.
Okay, maybe the silence wasn't so bad.
It would be a few minutes more before her mind would switch yet again, and she soon found herself dreading the silence again.
"Um... Aiden?"
"What?" His icy tone caused her to shrink back a bit.
"Well, I, uh..." Her voice trailed off when she looked into his green eyes and she looked away. She heard Aiden mumble something before the silence returned yet again to taunt her.
POV Switch
Aiden mused silently, not chancing Maya a look. Had she finally decided to shut up? Good, then.
Now he could figure out exactly what was going on with his arms.
Without her stressing him the heck out about it, he could think clearly about the situation. Not trying to draw attention to himself from a certain annoying woman, he glanced at his hands. There was just enough sunlight for him to see that the ailness still hadn't left him. As far as pain went, there was only a constant warmth to them, an uncomfortable one. They mostly hurt whenever he was using them.
He shuddered as a cool breeze swept over him, feeling its icy touch even under his leather Ocelot jacket. A few seconds later, he felt warm all over. 'That's weird', he thought to himself, noting the sudden change.
He instantly shrugged it off when he saw a silhouette wandering a way off.
"Gill?!" He shouted, starting to rush up to it. Maya stared at it a few seconds longer before turning to face Aiden.
"Aiden, I don't think that's Gill." She said as she fell in his step, not taking her eyes off the drunk figure that teetered around in the woods. It was too dark to make out the person's face, and Maya wasn't going to take that risk.
"It has to be, Maya. There's no one else out here, dummy." Aiden snapped, running towards the figure.
Dummy?
Maya shrugged the name off for the time being. She was pretty used to it and gave her own share of insults...
Dummy?
On second thought, he was pretty much a jerk to her the entire day. A little backlash would do. What damage would it do if it would be saving him from impending doom anyways?
"I'm the dummy? At least I have good hands, Aiden!"
"The heck is that supposed to mean?!" He shouted back as the figure approached him though his back was turned.
"You know what that means, Aiden."
"Seriously?! Again with the arms?! I'm fine Maya!" He shouted, continuing to approach the mystery man. Maya scoffed aloud, turning her back on the both of them.
"I'm not a dummy." She repeated to herself over and over again, hoping it was true and fuming over Aiden's ignorance. A loud, head-turning cry resounded behind her and she quickly spun around.
Author's Note:
So... um... yeah! More from this story. Eh, so plot twist, eh? Not with Aiden and Maya. With Gill. Yeah, just had to do that... well, cya next chappie! Close it, Crisper!
Crisper: (is about to close it)
Me: Wait! Uh... guys, there's been a review that I need to tell everyone about.
Crisper:... is it bad?
Me: Not at all! Just a little misunderstanding that needs to be worked out.
Crisper: Misunderstanding about who?
Me: Uh... you.
Crisper: (goes emo) No one understands me!
Me: It's alright, it's not even that bad. Um, so someone apparently thinks that Crisper is another person who helps me write stories. So, to that person and anyone else who may think that, Crisper is an OC. He came around when I started ending my starting-notes with 'Hit it, Crisper'. One day, I decided that someone needed to actually hit it, so... Crisper was created! But, yeah, he's not a person who writes these stories. Anyways, now you can close it, Crisper!
Crisper: Wait! One more thing... I know this may be asking a bit much, but... will I ever be in one of your stories? Like, as a character in the cast?
Me:... maybe someday.
Crisper: Okiedoke! (closes it)
