Blood Red Sandman
Chapter 5
Loose Cannon
Sitting at the foot of the tent for nearly two days straight, Blue never left Red's side no matter what in a constant state of disbelieve and misery. He constantly checked up on his steadily decreasing in health comrade, his entire attitude seeming to shift under the sudden change of pace the group was experiencing. Green avoided him like the plague, Vio seemed far more detached than usual, and without Red's constant energy the world seemed like a much bleaker place. The sky was no longer blue, the grass seemed not green, and even the warm glow of the sun seemed out of place and foreign in this new dreary surrounding.
Blue watched as Green scurried past him for at least the first time that day, lucky him that Green didn't take the burden of traversing through the back to avoid his sight. He pulled at his hair slowly, feeling so much emotion and hatred that he could nearly explode from the anger. He wanted so bad just to knock some sense into Green, punch Vio's stupid face until he spat out teeth. Anything to get the group back to normal he would do, even if he knew not how to even go about with a plan like that. His anger turned to hatred, and quickly his hatred blossomed as he watched Vio walk up with downcast eyes, not even saying one teasing word to Blue as he stepped into the tent with a bucket full of cold water and makeshift potion, leaving Blue feeling both empty and out of place.
Blue still was freshly enraged from the anger he felt towards the situation with Green. He didn't remember, he didn't feel, and let alone why would he need to go forward with such an action when Green was his second closest friend? It makes no sense. And Vio didn't deserve to be in that tent with Red after his lips were scandalously pressed to his, in a blatant disregard of his relationship with Red. He should be in there, he should be caressing Red's face, and he shouldn't be out here in misery and pure confusion.
Blue rose up slowly, not sure what to do with all these emotions as he bit his lower lip hard, making it almost bleed as he reached into his pocket. He hesitated for a moment as all these feelings rushed through him as he neared the mallet, horrible images of bashing Green's head in or breaking all of Vio's limbs filling his consciousness. He thought nothing of these visions however as he shoved his hand all the way into the bag. There he grabbed the handle of his mallet, his rage increasing tenfold as his skin made the contact with the demonic charm. He was nearly seeing red as he pulled it swiftly out, letting out a scream as he charged blindly through the brush with no direction, swinging at near anything he could reach with a renowned hatred, shouting words of profanity as he totaled at least a dozen unfortunate monsters in his path. Of course they revived a few moments afterward, but our furious hero never noticed.
Green jumped up at the sound of Blue's rage, the hair on the back of his neck erected and showing just how bad the shout alarmed him. He looked in a panic for a Blue with evil eyes charging at him, forcing him into sexual acts he never even dreamed of performing so suddenly. When no such sight was witnessed, he forced his muscles to relax as he peeked his head out from his tent to glance from each side of his vision, only seeing emptiness where he looked. Finally, with a long and drawn out sigh, he slowly wandered from the confines of his haven to view the source of the noise and locate his increasingly frustrated friend.
He looked from tent to tent cautiously, stopping as he approached the bright red tent of his sick friend. He gulped drying as he heard another pained moan coming from none other than Red, Vio stepping right in to hush and feed him a plentiful supply of water, doing all he can to ease his lovers suffering. Green had to cover his ears as he walked back, the noises and sounds being far too much for him to possibly handle now. Looking around the area, he quickly noticed the way the brush unnaturally opened at a point, sighing before contemplating his choices. Go after Blue and calm him down, risking the chance of getting violently raped this time and-
There was no argument, Green thought, as he sat back down inside of his tent after going back to it. There was no way he would risk being scarred any further. Blue was plenty strong and if he was in trouble then he would have no problem defending himself. He curled up in a ball, releasing another uncontrolled stream of pathetic sobbing, chewing on his lower lip as he recalled all of the memories, all of the pain. Even if the event was three days ago, he simply couldn't bear the utter pain of it as he remembered. He knew this pain was deep rooted, and with factors such as Red's sickness and the sudden increase of monsters around, it seems as if life just couldn't give him a break.
He turned back onto his back and gazed at the green folds of the tent holding him in a seeming veil of protection, letting his eyes drift closed as he just sighed, and if he were to listen closely with his elfin ears perched high he would hear the distant call of battle, and at least a dozen calls of monsters. Blue was louder than usual, Green would note, but why would he care? Blue was always loud, Blue was always hunting monsters, Blue was always losing his temper. He would never admit it, but he admired the way that Blue could down so many monsters at once with a swing of his mallet. He was an honorable sparring partner, and an even better friend. A reason as to why he would molest him eluded his mind, or perhaps it was just clouded with too much fear to think logically? Green didn't know, and it drove him mad with misery.
He buried his face slowly into his hands, whispering to himself just to hear his voice again. It was scratchy, yet still his own as he mumbled, "I thought we had something there. I thought we were friends, comrades, wouldn't do anything at all to hurt ourselves. Were one person for god's sake, how can we fuck each other over so bad." Of course these would go unanswered, as an empty tent normally won't reply to you, unless one has a few screws loose. Green may just have a few screws loose as he heard a faint whisper coming up from seemingly everywhere, echoing around his head in a near painful manner.
The voices were too far too fast to understand, a gruff voice slowly whispering words of seemingly nothing to Green before a chorus of others voiced their chants alongside the gruffer, filling Green's head with unexplainable, pure noise as he curled himself into a ball. The onslaught of so many words was so painful, so head rattling, that all Green could do was wreath and sob and scream at the bottom of his tent in a fit of pain and misery. The gruff voice, when comprehensible, mumbled words of hate to Green and Link's name in general, as well as what sounded like the princess's name in a fit of hysterical laughs and screams.
Under the onslaught of these voices, he too began to scream as that one voice continued its painstaking screams inside of his head, driving him near mad as he yanked at his hair, bit his arm, doing all that he could to simply end the pain now. As soon as Vio, having to be detached from Red in order to come to Green, drew the flaps of the tent back, the voices seemed to stop all at once. His eyes snapped open as he looked at his savior, and it's only then that he realized he was crying the entire time. He jumped up as Vio gave him a strange look, not seeing anything wrong with his once strong leader to cause him to scream in such a horrible manner. Green lunged at Vio, embracing the book worm in a hug that could almost put Red's to shame. Almost, because no one had better hugs than Red.
Vio was barely affected or curious to misery now, just slowly wrapping his arms around Green and shushing to him slowly in the most calming way he could possibly manage. Green noticed, with a small tug of his heart, that Vio had changed since Red's sickness. Instead of asking him what was wrong, he simply silenced his whimpers. Instead of Blue rushing to him to check up on him as well, then laugh at what was ailing him, he was met with only the lingering battle cries of Blue as he attacked monster after damned monster. This world felt foreign to Green now, no longer a safe haven for him as he slowly realized that these weren't natural chains of events leading up to these ailments.
Instead of feeling safe in Vio's embrace, he just felt uninvited and empty, the rift in his heart expanding further and further as he nearly screamed again from pure frustration. Vio seemed to notice this as well, just sighing and stepping back with a detached look from his eyes. They already seemed to have lost a hue of their once cold and calculating, deep ice blue. They almost looked like a sad shade of evening blue now, yet still retaining a glimmer of hope deep within them that everything would turn out alright in the end. Green grew even more frustrated without the arms around him, unable to find a true way of how to simply feel anything but frustration and disappointment.
He turned away from Vio and clenched his fists, saying in a raspy and tired voice, "I'm going for a walk, keep an eye out on Red." He knew he didn't need to even say, because the moment he stepped out of his tent Vio was already scurrying to Red's again, desperate to do anything he could to slow Red's steady decline in health. Green stepped through the brush that Blue broke through. I mean if it was there and he didn't have to crawl through thick thicket then that was just a bonus for him. He walked along the path that Blue took, surprised at the number of monsters that still lay remaining in his path. Either there were more monsters now than he first presumed, or Blue didn't really kill any. But judging by the amount of shouts and battle cries heard, there had to have been some slaying going on.
Green just took his sword out and walked past, ready to strike if he must yet holding it back until it was an absolute necessity. The monsters scurried around more, simple things like Keese, Deku Shrubs, Octorocks, likewise monsters and not too much of a threat if left alone. Sometimes a clever Octorock would fire a rock at Green, only for the rock to be deflected away and the creature to find itself in two, leaving a simple few force gems. Green felt no desire to collect the force today, yet he leaned down and gathered the shining gems anyways. With a heavy heart he turned away from the disappearing monsters and collected each gem he found from the foolish monsters that attacked.
Green steadily grew calmer and calmer, the fresh and now quiet background of the forest soothing him into a blank, easing away all his fears. He felt as if there was a reason that his tunic was green, and that reason had to have been the calming effects of the forest. Vio was calmer in situations one wouldn't find most beneficial, but he always enjoyed the shadow and spirit worlds and the lull they pull him into. Blue could fall asleep floating in any river, and the group used to joke how even if flipped face down he would still sleep. Red was a cuddle bug for a reason, he adored warmth and fire. He sometimes would curl around the fire until it goes out before returning to his tent, then just bundling into two sleeping bags because one was never warm enough. Green continued to think about these things, a sad smile spreading across his cheeks as he just continued to walk with a heavy heart.
He missed how the group was, how friendly and inviting they used to be. Even Blue was a big softie under his big shell, despite his constant complains and rebukes that he wasn't. This new Blue couldn't be real, it just couldn't. Could it? How Red sweated and tried to push away all means of warmth, that couldn't be him either. Nothing was how it was. A silent, miserable Vio was far too different from quiet, cocky Vio to be real. And even himself, he found to be too different to be real. Once strong and fearless, one who could lead the others despite any challenge, where did that Green go to? Perhaps this was all just a dream of the sorts, and they would all wake up and share a good laugh with this. But who was he kidding, this was all real and he had nothing he could do about it. Green hated to think too hard about these things, and he found himself kicking a pebble as far as it would go in frustration, watching it bounce away and land across the path and into a patch of grass.
He held his head and just screamed, he screamed and screamed and screamed until his throat was raw with screaming, then screamed one more time just for measures. He doubled over and began to breathe heavily, holding his stomach in pure, utter despair. He felt like he was going to be sick himself. He collapsed into the bushes, despite the cruel gaze of the monsters around him that only made him sicker. With a few dry heaves, he finally emptied his little stomach contents onto the ground. It was faint, but the trace of semen in the excretion was enough to send him over the edge again and for a second time he expelled nothing but stomach acid. The taste was awful, his throat burned, and he found himself slowly curling into a ball to hopefully disappear from the world once and for all. When the much desired effects never happened, and no beam of light came down to sweep him away from the suffering, he uncurled unsteadily and forced himself back to his feet.
The first thought going through Green's mind was water as he licked his dry, cracking lips at the aspect of something cold and refreshing filling his mouth instead of the warm, fresh, awful taste of his own stomach. He unsteadily moved from foot to foot as he made his way towards the river he knew lied in the heart of the forest, encountering more and more monsters in his path until he finally had to draw his sword again. After collecting the spoils of the creature reluctantly and saving them for the other's swords, he continued his way onward to the river. Soon his elfin ears picked up the sound of water rushing and battle cries. Wait, battle cries aren't typically heard near a soothing river, are they? He peeked under through the bush slowly, only to reel back at the sight of 3 lumbering Hinox and his blue comrade taking them on with mallet in hand. No matter how many times Blue seemed to slay them, they kept returning fully loaded and ready for more.
Green was extremely puzzled by this, as the Hinox had already sustained many blows yet were still battling on. How did they retain all that energy? Normally 3 hits from Blue's hammer would be enough, yet these were taking hit after hit and showed no signs of slowing down at all. Maybe if Green was more observing, he would notice the strange shadow looking down from the trees, or the way it let out a pleased purr as soon as Blue grew tired and collapsed onto one knee, getting too exhausted to continue. Sadly Green was neither of these at the time, and the aspect of running in and aiding Blue was obviously the better choice, but Green was far too terrified of his enraged comrade to ever consider. Only when Blue had to retreat into the stream did Green saunter in with sword in hand, knowing that he couldn't just let Blue die at the hands of something as simple as a few Hinox. He charged in and slashed one right through the back, its scream before perishing alerting the other two and Blue to his presence.
Blue snapped his head to Green and glared with the vilest look Green has ever seen, causing Green to near trip over himself as he backed away from Blue and the Hinox. "I've got this, Green! Just go the fuck back to camp and keep moping around like the pathetic ass you are!" Blue said with the most terrible of snarl in his voice, threatening to swing his mallet at Green if he didn't oblige to his command. Green reared back in alarm. When did Blue get THIS worked up? But there was no time for questions. Green ignored the shouting of his attacker and charged at the Hinox attempting to make their way over to him now, sword flying despite the slight coat of rust that gathered in his swinging arm in these past few days of no practice or much less movement. The screams reverberated through the forest as the two lumbering beasts fell in three swings tops. Green stepped back with his breath deteriorating, taking ragged pants to regain his breath from both terror and the light workout he endured.
Blue was in much worse of wear, sporting many already forming dark bruises and cuts from the various smaller monsters inhabiting the area. His nastiest hit was a club wound to the head, causing streaks of red to slip down his now strawberry tinted blonde hair and to his face, causing him to have to keep one eye closed to protect it from his own body internal fluids. He was near hyperventilating from unblown steam and from his pride suffering a worse blow than the Hinox club that struck him not a moment earlier. He turned to Green and clenched his mallet, looking as if he was about to snap. "Are your ears broken, grass-ass? I told you to not fucking bother me and let me fight my own battles!" he shouted to Green, causing the others ears to flatten against his head out of instinct. He slowly began to saunter backwards away from the fuming Blue, nervous as his once-friend continued to draw closer and closer towards him.
"I told you I had it, I told you I could handle it, but did you listen? NO! You better not get in the fucking way next time or else it won't be the monsters I'm after!" he hissed low in his throat in a diabolical threat, causing Green to back up even more, his sword drawn and at ready to attack if needed. "I don't care, you needed help and we are, or at least were, a team! I won't let you die over such a simple thing as Hinox; I don't even know how you were struggling!" Green rebuked with a shaky voice, breathing slow and heavy as he continued to back up, taking Blue's threat straight to heart as he held his sword out. Finally, with a few more steps from Blue, Green flew off. He sprinted through the brush of the forest, unable to force himself to stay near the creature Blue has turned into. Blue thought about running after him, yet paused and just growled, turning back to the river to lay in it. Deciding that he didn't need his hammer since there were no monsters, he finally pocketed the tool with a drawn out sigh.
As the weapon returned to its place, Blue was alarmed as all of his anger nearly dissipated into the water surrounding him. He felt at peace, surreal by the sudden calm, and most importantly level headed. He gazed up into the bright hue of the sun, warmth shining down upon him as if a dark cloud was just removed from the storm, and was slowly allowing common sense to peek out from its hiding spot. He looked at the water surrounding him, then let himself float further out past the bank, his eyes closed as the lapping water washed away his troubles. He knew he did something wrong, something to hurt someone or something, but he just couldn't remember what it was. He dealt it off as unimportant for now, and let himself drift lazily through the liquid. After a few more moments of serene silence, he finally drifted off to sleep in the water with a relaxed sigh.
Sitting on the branches above, Shadow was clenching the tree's appendage as tight as he could until his knuckles turned near white. So close to exterminating a hero yet so far! He swore loudly as he held his hand out, the shadows from the tree warping around it before shouting out in rage, his lower pitch echoing as the shadows blasted from the tips of his finger, felling a good number of trees. He breathed heavily, the move costing him a bit of energy, but nothing that couldn't be regained in the near future. He needed to blow off steam anyways, and that was just the ticket to assist that goal. As the scurrying shadows reassembled in their proper places, he leaned back with a frustrated sigh. It was hard enough to get monsters to assist him as minions now-a-days, and with three now fallen, he had a mere 12 left. He needed to make his name without Master Vaati now, no matter what sacrifices lie in his way. His blind eye served as a hindrance to his plans, but now he has trained his ears to detect the noises on his blind side, the only way he could know about an oncoming attack that he couldn't see.
He was growing more and more powerful as the days steadily continued onwards, his ear trained to see what his eye couldn't and his powers increasing without the limitations his master provided. This little spark was growing into a wildfire, one that soon not even the Demon Lord himself could stop. Shadow was near drooling as he thought of the day he would have his master on his knees, begging and pleading him with his life and groveling at his boots. Of course he would kick Master Vaati in the face many times with said boots, relishing in the screams and pleas he emitted. Of course he would make Master Vaati spit clean his boots clean of his own blood, forcing him to cry and use only his tongue to clean them. Of course he would let Master Vaati hang in his dungeons, simple meat for his new and old minions to use whenever they felt bored. And of course when Master Vaati finally couldn't take it and perished, he would force the closest fairy to revive his precious master to give him life again, only to continue the cycle on for all eternity just to show precious master who was in charge now, just what he messed with when he kicked him out onto the street to fend for himself over something as small as a handicapped eye.
Shadow continued to ponder over these wonderful thoughts as his eyes were trained on the form of the floating hero. How easy it would be to swoop down and collect his form, only to dump him over a cliff and relish in the screams before the splat. How easy it would be to grab his head and force it under the water until no more bubbles rose. How easy it would be to draw his shadow sword and stab him over and over again until the river stained red with his blood.
All of these tasks would be easy for Shadow, but far too easy. He wanted each hero to suffer thoroughly before their demise, to be broken and repaired several times before they finally fall to his feet and plead on their hands and knees for death, their pathetically bright faces now dull and broken. Perhaps the Red one may die soon without a fight, but the suffering he's enduring is far greater than any pain he has first experienced. Besides, once their optimism is gone and the misery sets in, that's when the real breaking can ensue. The others he had no real plan for yet, but Shadow knew the perfect plan would come along eventually, and when it did he would be sure that plan was carried out. But Vio, he knew exactly what he wanted to do with the once friend who took his heart and trust and shattered it into a million pieces, what to do with the terrible fiend who took his eye just like his heart and crushed it until it was useless. His smile darkened as the thoughts continued on; cutting out Vio's useless organs one by one. Tongue, teeth, hair yanked from his head, arms sawed off one by one, and then the legs hacked off with preferably a dull hatchet. And the pain Vio would feel that day wouldn't come close to feeling the heartbreak and pride blow Shadow had suffered.
Shadow took glee in imagining the horrible screams of Vio, watching his blood spill one limb at a time. One day, he thought, one day he will have all of that and more. He will have a castle to rule in, an array of beautiful women serving him like master did, a slave that tended to his every needs that the women couldn't, satisfying the craving he always possessed for male skin. He would have an army of his own monsters, not weaklings like Master always used. No, he would use only the best and only breed the best. Shadow sat on the branch and kicked his feet, leaning against the tree with a heavy heart. How would one even go about doing something like that?
Shadow pondered this for a long time, for so long in fact that he began to drift off into sleep. As dusk fell however and his power grew, his eyes snapped open as he finally began to put the pieces together. To make a castle, one needs loyal minions. To have loyal minions, one needs to be powerful. To be powerful, one needs to be ruthless and clever in power, wisdom, and courage. There needs to be a distinct balance of the three. Vaati had all three, and Shadow pondered at what he had. He obviously contained courage and power, seeing of how he always faced every challenge and obstacle thrown his way. But wisdom he considered, rubbing his temples a bit as he thought. He supposed coming up with these plans used smarts, and he knew how to read and write and hell he even knew how to make a laptop out of thin air, technology that shouldn't even be invented yet.
Shadow smirked a bit as he thought of him ruling as the new master of his own castle, the moon growing in the sky as he stood up and stretched his weary muscles. He had a balance of the three, he was sure of it, and knew that when word got out of the Red heroes eventual death monsters would be flocking to him. His lip tread into a thin line however as he thought of other monsters claiming they were the one to decease the small lad, and needed to make sure that it was certain his sign would be marked on the skin. With master Vaati, if stone wasn't his sealing for the pride of his kill, it was his monstrous eye that was placed upon the victim's forehead to claim he was there. Shadow needed a gimmick like that to ensure his prize stood as his own. Perhaps a flaming arrow placed through the heart? No, done far too many times already. Maybe a slash of his claws across the victim's chest? No, but getting much closer. He continued to ponder each mark he could leave, his teeth working his lip and drawing thin lines of blood to the surface from the extent of his concentration. Then it hit him.
He grinned as his hands traveled down his blind eye, as well as the scar left over it from the sword making its mark and chewing through his flesh. He let loose an echoing laugh, one he also must practice to properly strike fear into his victim's hearts. He finally constructed the perfect mark to show his ownership of the deceased victim. He knew it would be impossible for any other monster to possibly explain why they did it. "I simply like to eat eyeballs," they would say. "I just like clawing over eyes because it's fun," They would utter. He would be the only one with reason as to why he would leave such a mark, as the monsters around here were all foolish and stupid and unable to make a plausible claim, yet made good use of their power following a stronger force. Soon he would motion his plan, the moment the Red Link perished.
