Author's Note
I'm back, a bit quicker this time. I bring...a chapter longer than the last one!
I actually thought it'd be longer than it is, and intended it to be, but I stupidly wrote in 1st person SasoPOV. When I needed to go to DeiPOV, I decide to just cut it off rather than make it weird. Still...longer than last time!
I'll try to get Ch.10 out in a timely manner. But first:

SHM,F Ch. 9

"Analogies, it is true, decide nothing, but they can make one feel more at home." — Sigmund Freud

I was seeing red.

That wasn't too surprising; I'd figured I'd much sooner see Hell than Heaven. The only shock would've been that my philosophy was wrong.

But something didn't seem quite right.

Is Hell not the right shade of red?
No, that's not the problem.
It doesn't have...depth.
Am I doomed to read a map of Hell for eternity?
Satan's soft on atheists.
That explains these lines, they're rivers... Of course, see, there's Styx, Lethe, Phlegethon...so the Greeks were right...
Wasn't their underworld black? Or dark?
Did theirs have a section for atheists?

My head was swimming with questions when I felt something on my hand. Very light, hardly there...I could barely feel it...
There it was again.
And again.
Always in different spots.
Barely touching.
Just enough to trip my nerves.
Just like...

It was then that the truth dawned on me.

Bugs.
This is Hell, and it's bugs.
Creepy-crawly bugs.
Hell bugs.
I'm probably covered in them.
Covered in creepy-crawly hell bugs.
Fuck my afterlife.

I decided that the Greek underworld dealt with atheists by making them eternally read maps whilst covered in insects. They were probably termites too. Termites were the worst.

That's it, they've covered me in termites, hungry termites. They've isolated me from everything else, so the termites will be forced to eat through my flesh and make me their hive —is it called a hive?—I don't give a fuck— I'm already dead, so my flesh will endlessly regenerate here, giving food to generation after generation of termites...over time, they will evolve —did Greeks believe in— to have traits more suited to gnawing through me...reinforced mandibles, greater carnivorous tendencies...innate desire to inflict pain upon their prey...all while instinctively knowing not to touch the brain, lest I be unable to feel...

Then another sense picked up.
Which one?
I was receiving the raw information, the sensory input, but I couldn't determine what it was, where it was from, or how to interpret it.
Process of elimination.

Sight?
I can see.
Touch?
These termites are here, so I can feel.
Taste?

I took a moment and tried to process the data through that channel, but it didn't quite...match up...quite right...

Smell?

The same result.

Sound.

That was all that was left. It was either that, or my senses were entirely screwed up. Unsure of whether or not it'd be prudent to pray for the latter, I tried to "listen" to the information.

It was crying.

I paused in surprise, the sound of sobbing filling my mind. Now that I could hear it, I couldn't stop. It was just there.
Crying.

Somehow, the termites on my hand turned into something stronger, squeezing my flesh relentlessly. Snakes, perhaps.

The sobbing grew louder and the snakes coiled tighter.
Louder.
Tighter.
Louder.

But it wasn't until the next thing that I understood what was going on.

The sobbing collapsed on me, dampening my cheek. Wispy hairs tickled my nostrils and stuck on my skin as a low whine was whimpered in my ear.

"Dannn...un..."

I understood.

This wasn't hell. I wasn't dead. I was alive, and Deidara thought I wasn't.

The truth rushed over me and I pushed my will to move my lips, which were dry and cracked. I could almost taste iron as they opened, and I breathed out lightly,

"Dei."

Author's Note

See? Everything's fine. One or two more chapters, guys. I know I said that last time.
To LazyGaGa: I think we're a bit closer to humor with this one, though I wasn't trying for that.
To Everyone Else: Thank you for reading everything so far! I appreciate your loving support!

I'd give a music list, but I don't know what all I listened to.

Fun Fact: I did my TOK Art Presentation on why SHM,F and other fanfictions are art.

Love you guys! Review or be covered in termites!

EDIT: Apparently "Creepy Crawly Hell Bugs" are a thing, and they are a species of centipede/millipede, I forget which.

Tags: fanfiction, sasodei, sasori, sohelpmefreud