Shell Shock
Writers: Denny and Leila
Rating: PG-RG
Warnings: Ratchet/Azimuth. Violence.
Disclaimer: We value our lives too much to even dare think about claiming Ratchet and Alister as our own. We borrow them for an RP, so don't worry. [Put the Wargroks back into your cage!]
Summary: Everyone's nightmare is to wake up in a cold, dark place without a clue where one is. Sadly, that's what's happened to us. What's even better, we have monsters and weird encounters to endure as well. And then there's them…
Lucky, right? If I ever get out of here, I will need some therapy sessions.
Chapter 7
-
The first sensations Ratchet truly recognized and realized as such were horrible back pains, followed by a lightning through his head. Clutching his head he rolled to his side while he tried to fend off the reflex to arch his back – tears ran down his eyes, so hard did he shut them. When he finally opened them, he didn't know if his headache was dissolving the view or his tears.
There was no significant noise surrounding the Lombax, only the steady, low humming of machines. As far as his perception had recovered, Ratchet could make out a few dim lights above him, only enough to illuminate the bit of way before his feet. Behind him there was an opened vent, probably the one he had been pulled out of - but why was he here, alone then?
Carefully Ratchet rolled onto his back, shielding his eyes. Even as dim as the lights were, with his headache it felt like spotlights burning into his brain. Standing up was the last thing he wanted in the moment, but he needed to find Alister.
As the Lombax gained more control over his senses, he slowly noticed blinking lamps around him, dimly pulsating in a hypnotizing manner. It had an infatuating effect, and was probably one of the reasons why Ratchet had passed out.
Ratchet shut his eyes tightly and pinched his upper arm, concentrating on the pain. It took again another minute, but eventually the pressure on his mind lessened, even though slowly. It still felt like the times when he had flown too long so that he had tensed up. Back then, his cramped back had caused headaches. For a moment he remembered when Clank had massaged him for the first time and when the block in his head had melted. Along with him becoming purring Lombax goo as a result.
... But that was no time for reminiscing. Not now.
The lights around him ceased one by one, leaving the Lombax in the dark with every moment he remained there. As a substitute for them low humming, different from the one the machines made, could be heard - it bore an unsettling resemblance to the growling of a creature the two Lombaxes had encountered not too long ago.
"You gotta be kidding me." Ratchet gasped, suddenly finding the strength to scramble to his feet. Something clicked on the tiles to his right at which Ratchet whirled around. His heart pounded, his breath picked it up as blood rushed into his ears. He slowly walked backwards with his wrench ready, feeling his way along a console with his free hand until he found its end and slipped around the corner. He pressed his shoulder against the metal, peering around with one eye. Due to the brightness before everything was pit-dark now to him; he barely picked up any shapes. Only the clicking hinted at where the beast was coming from. When it stopped, his heart stopped too - he had seen movement. Not even a real form, more like... a line which had shifted in the black.
Said line was moving in a peculiar pattern, and the more it moved, the easier was it to make out. This was probably a result of the slowly, but steadily stronger growing pinkish glow emitted by the line. With it, the growl turned louder, but no matter how strong, Ratchet could not perceive the creature making the sound.
After a few more moments the form of the being before the Lombax was visible - and as it turned out, it really was only a living line that seemed to be endlessly long. From where did it originate though? The question which origin it had, however, was eliminated as the line began forming four letters.
M O V E.
And as the line was done writing them, the growl turned into a snarl and the line into a mouth pierced with teeth that snapped after Ratchet.
Ratchet dove with a scream under the maw, crawling beneath the beast's body. He quickly rolled out as it madly tossed and turned above him, trying to crush or kick him at least with a talon claw. Kicking it in one knee, an angry howl was his reward as he backed away. He didn't wait to have that thing turn around, it didn't need his leg for snapping his head off.
The creature was anything but amused - on the contrary. It turned around and bared its teeth, yellow-red eyes glowing brightly in the dark before snapping after the Lombax. No good. Ratchet had a wall right in his back...
The Lombax whipped his wrench across the beast's maw, with little to no effect. The indicator frantically jumped over the hexagons displayed on the inside of his visor while keeping the teeth away until he found what he was looking for. He didn't have enough room for any of the long-range weapons, so he needed something that would truly hurt his enemy on short distance.
"Say 'ahhhhh'." Dutifully the jaws opened, making Ratchet gag on the vile smell of rotten meat and blood that spilled from the depths of that hole. He pulled the trigger and sent a salvo of buzzblades down the throbbing throat.
A blood-freezing scream came from the creature as it shrieked back. The head crashed against the ceiling and broke parts of it down, its tail swung from one side to the other. Then it crashed against one side of the corridor, leaving a bit of space to run past.
The Lombax scurried past almost slipping on the tiles in his gliding crouch, then darted sideways in a push with his boots and sprinted down the corridor. Shapes began appearing now in his view with his eyes adjusting to the darkness, but he was still racing the way blind. Clicking talons and he sped up again. He darted sideways into a path as massive jaws shot forward to rip his left side apart – the disgusting screeching faded only little behind him before the thundering of four feet made the little distance melt again he had put between him and his hunter.
The creature spit out some remains of the buzzblades before it started chasing after the Lombax under loud roars. Its tongue whipped after Ratchet, each time causing the ground to dissolve at the very spot under a snapping sound. The whole corridor was filled the noise and the tremors caused by the massive body of the creature behind him.
... But there was another sound... wasn't there?
Gradually the light came back. Ratchet was too focused on running though to notice this until he clearly saw the corner at the end of the path. He gripped the edge and swung himself around to keep his speed, gasping. Bright light blinded him, causing multi-colored spots to dance across his view while he kept running. He barely felt the tip of his shows touch empty air but reflex noticed; automatically he pushed himself off with his heel for the remaining momentum to carry him over the gap. Luckily he landed safely on whatever was on the other side and ran further.
There was the sound again! The Lombax strained his hearing to pick the sound up above from the howls and hollers, crashing and crunching as the beast seemed to stomp stronger and stronger with increasing speed. Still shielding his eyes he blinked, feeling more and more like he was being watched.
The beast behind Ratchet surely wasn't letting him off - if the Lombax hadn't known better, he could have sworn that the sound of talons clashing onto the ground slowly turned into a sound resembling hooves hitting stone. Yet to speak of the constant increase of the noise...
Giggling.
The tongue whipped at the wall right beside Ratchet, dissolving the metal at that point. That was no time for thinking! The fur on his neck stood on edge, either by the idea of that tongue getting a swipe at his body or the unnerving giggling, he didn't know. By now at least the dancing colors had mostly faded and a door swished open in front of him. Man... Ratchet groaned internally. Platforms. Why does it have to be always have to be fucking platforms?
As Ratchet reached out for the first platform, the creature behind him had also reached the room. To his surprise its form now resembled a mixture of a wolfish and horse-like features as there was now an actual shape of body to be seen. Purplish red fur was rustling as hooves transported the creature to its target even faster than before.
Hadn't it been one of those two-headed abnormalities from the caves earlier? Both sported sharp teeth, though – first priority: stay alive, then ask questions. Or rather first jump across the gap.
Hooves clashed against metal as the beast landed on the platform behind Ratchet, yellow glowing eyes glaring at the Lombax. A short noise similar to a sneer sounded as the creature bared its teeth. If Ratchet hadn't known better, he would have believed that this beast was mocking him-
Well, perhaps it was better that he now cared about that slick tongue whipping after him.
He ducked, jumping to the next platform, and the next. When looking over his shoulder again to see the monster's position he didn't notice that his foot stepped with the heel on the edge - and with his speed, he tumbled down as he leant forward, boot slipping.
Nononononono... Blood rushed in his ears as he held his breath in his fall as the adrenaline pushed his brain to look for a way to save himself. He didn't want to die, not now, not here and not this way, even before he had found Alister. There were no other platforms coming, and he realized with panic the bottom was likely Zoni-knew how many cubits below him. Kicking his feet, he suddenly noticed the weight of his hoverboots.
Wouldn't he have been panicking, he would have groaned that he had forgotten them. He had exerted himself needlessly with running when he could have outraced the beast.
There was a ledge with a door in front of him, but he was not high enough anymore to direct his fall towards it. He wouldn't die, but if he didn't get over there he could land anywhere, probably back in the caves. Except if...
Quickly he coordinated himself to the side. His stomach got pressed down as he bent his feet to touch the wall, in this moment activating the hoverboots with full boost that he flew across the abyss, landing in the middle of the ledge. He supported himself against the door frame for a second because he was shaking like a leaf. Now that he stood safe his adrenaline level kicked down instantly, revealing how tired he actually was. That beast was still up there some-
A blood-freezing scream came from above.
Turning his head upwards, Ratchet saw how his predator had run against the door on the top. Blue and purple bolts went through the beast's body which struggled to break free from the electrocution - but no matter how hard it struggled, it seemed it couldn't move away. In some way it was a truly calming sight, hadn't it been for this odd, unsettling expression on the creature's face. It was not pain, not fear…
It was delight.
Ratchet stared at the monster above him, ears dropping as he couldn't look away from it. It couldn't be enjoying that, could it-
Giggling.
Bodiless giggling, without direction, without origin. All he knew that there was someone, no, something everywhere and nowhere mocking him from the depth of their hearts.
It was an almost unbearable instinct to clutch his arms around himself, to lie down and curl into a ball at this sound. He pushed the button to the door instead, snapping his head away from the monster even as his hand trembled on the button.
With the door behind him closing, the monster's cries subsided as well. All that there was left was eerie silence. Could these doors really keep out these pained screams that well? Shouldn't he at least be able to hear someth-
A faint sound different from the mechanical humming reached his ears. It was like something seeping in from behind, slowly, dripping through a rift bit by bit…
The Lombax turned around, realizing that the door had never closed entirely. A small hole was right beneath the door frame through which something… purplish red was entering the room.
Purplish red.
Ratchet stepped backwards, staring at the twisting, moving, crawling... thing. The sound amplified so much that it filled the whole room, making him feel as if he was lifted by an invisible flood at the neck before submerging him. The alien sounds dulled his senses like something pressing him, pressing him down, pressing from all sides so that he lost his breath and tried to gasp for it.
As bad as the giggling was - Ratchet would never have believed how much worse it could have been as it stopped. Silence seemed to have eaten every other sound in the room, even the humming of the door's electronics.
The pressure intensified, disabling Ratchet to move at all. It was so stifling, so very stifling even though that substance wasn't even touching him…
How ironic that it was that bone-shattering giggling that brought him back to his senses.
He had shot with the Constructo Pistol a hole through the mass before he even realized the weight of the weapon. Holding his head he shook it to clear his mind - he was annoyed to find both his hands trembling. The giggling didn't help in any way or that the thing wasn't even smoking - it just covered the hole like liquid.
"Oh just f-" Ratchet started, but soon thought of something smarter - namely running away. And so he did. Dashing along the corridor, through the doors, the constant sound of giggling and something sliding after him in his back, he hasted from one room to another.
He hated to run. He hated to run even more if he didn't know where he was running to; but he had no choice. That thing-
Suddenly, when he was in a room with two exits, the creature, no, substance shot forward, blocking one route. Ratchet wasn't so stupid to run right into it and rushed into the next corridor, only to realize that his pursuer was blocking some paths whenever he approached them. But why was that?
Concentrate on running, Ratchet, damnit! Grinding his teeth, the Lombax bowed down to accelerate further and further into the maze of corridors. He reacted mostly from instinct from that point on. Whenever he heard the noise or saw a flash of purple, he dove into the free direction, never stopping in his run. If he had had the time to think he would have noticed that the mass blocked more and more of the paths until there was no opening, no door free anymore except on the path he was running on.
Ratchet didn't care, though - all that mattered right now was to get away from that substance, nothing else. And so he rushed towards the door as it snapped open, speeding up as he felt the pressure pulling him down-
Then he tripped.
If Ratchet hadn't known better, he would have believed that he had been tripped up. Or maybe it was a cable. Not that that was of importance right now. It was over - that thing was going to get him…
Suddenly the sound subsided as the giggling did. Every sound perished at once, leaving the Lombax without a lead. Confused at what had happened, Ratchet slowly pushed himself up, panting heavily from the run. What…
Where was he?
Why was it so silent?
It was then that he picked up another sound, unlike the giggling or the sliding. It sounded like…
Someone was applauding him.
There was nobody in the corridor who could have clapped their hands. It sounded as if ten, twenty, thirty or more people were right around him yet he only saw the walls and the consoles lining alongside. The clapping rustled over his fur that it stood up, goosebumps rising - something was wrong with the sound, just like the giggling had been.
Yet, the applause intensified, growing louder and louder with every moment passing. Giggles started to be audible, came from every direction -
Suddenly the environment changed. The consoles, the walls, they all blurred, turned purplish red; for a moment, the pressure on Ratchet's body was so much that he broke back down onto the ground, unable to move an inch.
Ratchet was sure his stomach would have pushed out everything in it if the pressure hadn't constricted even these muscles. The mass - he knew no other word for it - twisted, inflated and pulsed, this with the color reminding him of internal organs. Slowly, single columns rose out the mass, the purple-red substance cascading down like water on a pillar.
What fell onto the ground formed another pillar, and another one. The process kept repeating itself until there were several orbs impending in the air. The Lombax stared at them, slowly pushing himself up with his elbows. What was that?
A strange yet familiar sound reached his ears. It wasn't that terrible giggling, or the sound of those beasts. It rather seemed like…
"R… Ratchet…"
The Lombax' eyes widened. Had he just heard his name? But that would mean-
Suddenly the orbs around him broke apart, unleashing a short but blinding flash of light. Unbearably piercing laughter, no, cackling filled the room, coming over Ratchet like waves of voices rushing over him.
His fingers clawed into his ears as the Lombax tried to cope with the noise all around him, hoping that it would end soon. Eventually, though, after what had seemed like hours the cackling slowly subsided, turning into mischievous giggling instead. It took Ratchet another minute to orientate himself, breathing in deeply. The pressure had finally vanished, and never had this terrible giggling been so pleasant.
The sight before him did not please him one bit, though.
Where he had first seen the orbs, purplish-red entities hovered. They seemed humanoid yet they weren't. Perhaps it was the robot-like shape. Perhaps the humanoid anatomy. Not that he really cared about that, but rather the feeling they evoked. Every set of glowing eyes was directed at him, narrowed in amusement. A necklace, no, a glowing collar covered each neck, as if these beings needed explicit restraint. But what actually had Ratchet flinch was the fact that every single one of them emitted this unstable, purplish-red aura.
And then this condescending, belittling smile on their faces…
Rage, so big he couldn't understand why or what it was about, washed over him but there were equal parts of fear. Both emotions pushed at each other, retreated just to rear to slam heads in his mind. They fought so much his head started to hurt from the impacts. If those things would just stop staring at him...
"Ratchet... R-run." He was now certain that he heard this voice. In this moment, fear tipped over, not for him but whom he was frantically trying to spot among the creatures. It couldn't be that hard! White among red and purple had to stick out like snow on Sargasso!
Suddenly black tendrils seeped out of the creatures. Ratchet, so frantic in his looking that he didn't notice at first, reared back as if he'd been burned as one nearly curled over his face. He fell to the side, wincing as he landed on his elbow - that would get a bruise and a swollen joint, he just knew. Squinting in pain, he saw through the rows of the red-purple creatures, finally spotting in this position what he had been looking for.
Alister was lying on the other side. His face was twisted, his teeth bared, nose drawn up and forehead contorted. But what really disturbed the young Lombax was what the elder tried to do. He could clearly see that he was attempting to move his arms, to push himself away from the ground; but all the efforts seemed to be in naught. The only movement was the constant trembling of his limbs when he tried to lift them, interrupted only when his arms crashed back onto the ground.
The entities around Ratchet realized where his center of attention had shifted to, turning to Azimuth as well. Then, the smile on their faces grew even wider. Mockery was in their gaze, contempt in their innocent, almost child-like giggling. Then they ripped their mouths open, turning the giggling into mocking laughter. Pointing fingers at Azimuth, laughing to their souls' content. The elder, still unable to move properly, only lowered his gaze before he looked at Ratchet again. "What are you... still doing here? Run, damn it!"
A ridiculing "aw" ghosted through the room as Azimuth spoke. Then, one of the entities hovered before him, baring its teeth while the grin grew hideously wide.
A quick lash with its foot. The elder crashed against the wall.
"ALISTER!" More of the entities sprouted out of the ground so that Ratchet found his way blocked by a pulsing wall of grins on open mouths, the openings black as the empty parts of space. He reeled back as one ducked down to him in an angle at a point he had never seen an organic bent. That belittling smile stretched so much that it went widely over the sides of the creature's head. As if it was saying, "You think you can get to your friend? Do you really believe that?"
Ratchet snarled. He jumped up, kneeing that face right in the middle with a satisfying 'crunch' in his somersault backwards. He didn't have to look to know of the vast indention in the entity's face; instead he just called his swingshot out as soon as he had enough place. It took him one second aiming, shooting, rushing over the creature's head high to the other side as the taut line constricted in dazzling speed. There he kneeled down, rolling Alister onto his side. For one moment he feared he wasn't breathing and stopped doing it himself - but that steady beat at his throat assured him that his friend was only unconscious.
A low groan came from the general as his eyes opened. Well, unconscious might have been an exaggeration. The elder grabbed Ratchet at his collar. All right, it had been an exaggeration. Although his limbs were still shivering, Alister had enough strength to grab him tightly. He himself seemed to be a little surprised but couldn't care less at the moment. Yanking the younger close, Azimuth hissed into his ear. "Get. Out. Of. Here."
"I won't leave you with those things." He hissed back.
A disgusted hush ghosted through the room, contemptuous sneers and sighs making it evident how lowly they thought of the white Lombax. So… weak.
"I don't care if you want to leave me alone with them or not." Azimuth's ignored the creatures around him. "You have to get out of here, save yourself and a chance to get me out of here later on. But if you stay here, we will both die." When the other wanted to object, he pulled him even closer until their foreheads touched. "Listen to me! I can't escape. I can barely move my arms, yet to speak of my legs. I can't get out of here, but you can. So get out of my sight before they do the same to you!"
Before Ratchet could answer, he cried out as he was yanked away. Cold and numb tingles spread from the spot where one creature was gripping him around the arm, catching the other to restrain them behind his back. He kicked and trashed, yelling, but felt his strength being drained while he had to watch how one of the creatures approached the elder with a mischievous grin.
Azimuth had to force himself not to stare at Ratchet, but at the entity before him. Looking up, the elder saw a condescending glare cast on him. His fingers curled but his face remained indifferent. The least he wanted was to give these creatures satisfaction. But he had to get Ratchet out of here…
"So." He hissed. "I see. Is it entertaining to watch other life forms like that? I bet it is. The observer always finds it exhilarating. He always does. But does a guard?" The elder saw how the attention was directed on him. Good. A forced, provocative grin appeared on his lips. "No. A guard doesn't. A guard does not find this exhilarating. If he does, then he is a sham." The giggling stopped. One by one the grins turned into confused, if not infuriated expressions. Splendid. A sneer, even if so inappropriate escaped the Lombax. "Wouldn't you say it's a shame to be captured by the likes of you? Well, it pretty damn is for me-"
Flesh crashed against metal as Azimuth was grabbed at his neck and tossed against the wall. The guard had pinned him up high, glowing teeth bared in a discontented expression. Every guard was now looking at the elder, hissing lowly. Suddenly the guard before Alister started laughing again, laughing so hard that its teeth clashed against each other every time - and with that, the rest of them picked their most favorite activity as well.
Once the cackling turned into giggling again, the guard used its free hand to reach up to the elder's cheek, stroking over it gently. Then it formed a fist and rammed it into his stomach, over and over again. The cheering from the other creatures grew unbearably loud. Some rooted, others laughed. And yet, the provocative grin on Azimuth's lips didn't vanish. Somehow it was growing even wider…
Horrified, Ratchet watched the events in front of him, eyes burning. He felt so helpless - no, he was helpless and he hated that he couldn't aid Alister or at least yank his arms free and start shooting those giggling freaks. Instead he was hanging limply in one of their arms, muscles weak like that of a bedridden sick.
"Guards?" It clicked suddenly what Alister was referring to. At first he had thought the blurry shapes of the creatures came from his eyes but now he realized that they were – shifting? It wasn't as obvious as before, maybe they were controlling themselves now more or not. They were the guards they had barely avoided encountering before, of whom Bar was so afraid.
The general had a tough time coping with the hits dealt to him, but he had known worse already. What's more, that new armor really did absorb some damage - not much, but still some. And that was something, at least. What, however, had Azimuth keep smiling, were two things: For one, it seemed like the guard holding Ratchet was shifting its attention onto him. For the other, the constant smashing seemed to have a peculiar effect on his paralysis…
"Is that all you've got?" Oh. Now that hit right now had actually hurt. "I can't believe even Nefarious would take the likes of you as guards." When the creature's glare turned fierce once more as he did not show the desired expression, Azimuth's grin grew even wider. With less, but still some effort he reached up and grabbed the entity at its collar, surprised that he could actually touch that creature somewhere. "Come on. Show me what you've got." He hissed, his eyes burning with provocation.
Anger appeared in the entity's glare, discontent clouded its expression. Grabbing the elder's hand around its collar, it slammed the limb back against the wall. Pain hushed over Azmiuth's face, only to be replaced by the undying provocative grin.
Sounds of surprise came from the entities as they had not expected the Lombax to be that resistant, some even giggled behind their hands and looked at their comrade condescendingly. The guard restricting Ratchet decided to lift the young Lombax up so that he could see the allegedly thrilling display in all its glory while the creature could giggle into Ratchet's shoulder.
A growl escaped the mocked entity before it turned to Azimuth once more. While only hissing came from its mouth, Alister could read the words off his lips.
I will crush you, lowlife.
Suddenly the guard pulled him away from the wall, holding him up in the air. Then, with a malicious grin, it tossed him against the consoles with such force that the machines showed cracks from the impact. This was too much - a stifled yelp escaped Azimuth when the pain rushed through his body. Landing on the ground, he coughed up blood, unable to move not due to paralysis, but to the impact. Well damn. Perhaps he had provoked them too much. And still, the elder grinned faintly. His tail swiped over the ground slowly as he tried to get up.
It was then the guard transformed its arm to a whip with two fangs as end and shot it at the elder, pinning him down to the ground at his neck once more.
"Alister! Stop it!" He didn't know if he was screaming the last at the guards or the other Lombax. Renewing his struggle, he couldn't tear his gaze away as the guard stalked to the dazed Alister, standing over him with an expression that spoke of murder now. But as it raised its other arm he closed his eyes, unable to look at what may follow. He needed to help Alister, they would kill him otherwise – but he was strong, he would make it, he knew he would…
As if his thoughts had been heard, the giggling behind him turned angry. A hand grasped him around the chin to force him to face his captor close-up. The glowing optics – he didn't believe they were robots, but he didn't know a better word – burned at him. How dare you even think of that one as strong? It didn't speak, but the optics glowed brighter in obvious anger with the contorting face than before. The black tendrils flared. The pressure rose again and the meaning of that gaze –resentment, anger, curiosity– seeped into Ratchet like acid, making him yell lowly in pain.
At the sound of Ratchet's voice Alister's ears perked instantly. His eyes turned to the younger, unsettlement, worry, even fear in his glare. The grin on his lips faded away, and his attention was drawn from the guard hovering over him.
Said guard was surprised to see such a sudden change of expression in Azimuth's face. Curious, it followed the elder's gaze - and when it realized what his center of attention was, a deviously satisfied grin, speckled with bared teeth, appeared on its face. It swiped the white Lombax against the other side of the wall that was covered by several devices and weapons, probably from their previous victims. The elder groaned, but did not look away from Ratchet - much to the entity's satisfaction. Locking the other guard's gaze, a malicious giggle left the creature.
After a second of surprise its comrade repeated the sound with a just as devious smirk before it turned around to the other guards. One inviting wave with its hand - and the every creature's attention rested on Ratchet once more.
Azimuth's eyes widened in fear. No. No, no, no! Not that! Not to him! He couldn't allow them to…
A shifting sound reached his ear as the restraining entity approached him. With its hand the guard stroked the general beneath his chin, giggling lowly. Bending its head so that its face blocked Alister's view on Ratchet, its lips formed syllables under joyful chuckling.
Time for another examination, it seems.
His eyes widely open, slight trembles went through Ratchet. He did not know why he could not suppress it, but it seemed impossible. The guard's hand was caressing his jaw now – the moment the touch started he lost instantly control of his movements down to his feet. He was trapped in his own body, doubling the instinct in his stomach to run and run. He had never been so afraid in his life; his panic in the caves were but slight anxiety against this and he didn't even know why. Hunger and amusement burned in those optics. Smiles stretched to the back of their heads, they seemed as if they wanted to devour him wholly, just needing to unlatch their jaws like doors.
You aren't that far off with your idea. Just another black hole opened in front of Ratchet and his mouth fell open in a silent scream as his jaw - as his jaw began to... to...
He couldn't even jerk as the image assaulted him, the sob being stuck in his throat.
Oh God - was his jaw melting?
"Get way from him, damn it!"Azimuth's teeth grinded against each other, his jaw trembled under the pressure. "Do you hear me? GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM!" He stretched out his arm to pull himself towards Ratchet, but the creature at his side was holding him down tightly.
The guard beside him saw the display with pleasure, slowly trailing down along the Lombax's jaw line with its finger. Don't you like this display? Turning the face upside down, it grinned into Alister's face, watching with visible delight how not only fear, but also anger caved itself into his glare. Don't you love this? Tearing its own head back up the guard forced the Lombax to stare at the scene before him.
Azimuth's fingers clawed into the ground as he tried to get away from the guard's grip, but it proved itself impossible to do so. A pained, helpless growl escaped him. Why… He was able to move now; he was able to get away from here now! So why… Why couldn't he help Ratchet?
As he stretched his arm out, he hit something of a familiar shape. Looking at it, he realized that it was the staff of his wrench. …
His wrench!
A quick glance to the guard. It seemed to be focused on the display before him once more. Azimuth couldn't look at Ratchet. Not now. He had to focus!
Another stifled sound reached his ears, accompanied by delighted giggling. The elder couldn't take it; for a moment he stared at the other Lombax.
He regretted it instantly.
The guard was excited to see the young creature in his grasp tremble to its touches. It was delighting, enjoyable, almost as if it was the ultimate sensation in the world. Such a structure in body… How heavenly! Never had the entity encountered a being with such a splendid structure. When its brethren had examined the other life form, that alone had been exciting enough, but this! This was by no means comparable. Such vitality pulsating in every molecule! Such livelihood! It was similar yet so different from what they had felt with the older one - and it sensed that only by barely touching the Lombax. How divine would the sensation be if it could actually examine that being to the fullest extent?
A tongue flicked out of the guard's mouth, licking over its lips. How enticing. How thrilling. It was sure that it could devour that life form in an instant - but that would not savor the exciting sensation. So it would disassemble the being slowly, bit by bit…
With one finger under Ratchet's chin, the guard lifted his head. Oh this frightened glare! So delicious. It could feel how the Lombax was shivering on the inside but was unable to show it in any other way than with his eyes anymore. Splendid. Truly splendid. A calming hush, as hypocritical as it was, left the entity's mouth as it stroked over Ratchet's cheek. Eyes narrowed in excitement, its lips formed syllable after syllable under a deceitful smile.
Don't worry… It won't hurt a bit.
For one more moment the guard enjoyed the emotions displayed in the life forms eyes. Then it pulled the Lombax closer, placing its lips onto Ratchet's. Almost immediately its eyes snapped open again. Oh this… This tingling sensation! This vivid struggling of that body's structure! It made the creature's spine tingle in bliss. The entity closed its eyes again, longing for every little piece of sensation that was released.
Just a bit more… Just a bit more…
Once the entity had enough power over the other's body, it gently forced Ratchet's lips open and started to explore the Lombax even deeper. Oh how divine it felt to have such a splendid life form in one's grasp!
This struggling!
These strong, yet useless groans of fear!
This vivid, pulsating sensation!
It was so enticing, so divine…! So divine that the feeling shook the guard even in its deepest core. As fleeting as the sensation was, the entity memorized it with its whole being. It wouldn't forget it anymore. Neither of its brethren would forget this sensation again. After all, this was the feeling all of them strove for-
This had to be what real life felt like.