Missing

Chapter Six: Sparkling Overflow

He knew he was alone. Long before he opened his eyes to the appalling depths of his cell's darkness, he knew. She had left some time in the night, or what he assumed to be night, in any case. And the absence of her being hurt far worse than any beating she could pelt out. He was crying hot stinging tears and cared not to stop them. How long would he have to wait this time? Another two years? Four years? Five even? He didn't want to think about it.

There was no point in trying to keep track of time either. He knew from the last two absences that with out a reference to the chronological flow he would easily shoot off track and be lost. Might as well be lost from the beginning too, at least then it wouldn't feel as if he lost anything.

Crying all day, for hours upon hours until he felt exhausted and he fell asleep. At least the dreams would provide something to look forward to, a nice break from the teary black awakening. Sometimes these dreams were nothing but memories, scenes from his faraway childhood, or Vicky's painful lessons. Other times nightmares plagued his slumber; shadowy beings attacking innocent colors, raids and pillages, and fire, azure fire. Sometimes when he was awake he would think about Presence and The Astral, but try as he might it seemed impossible to release his mind to such dreams again.

Then there were the special dreams, when his primal body would pent away too much semen and he could feel the touch of flesh in his sleep. Mostly these sexual fantasies involved Vicky in some way, or other beauties he had known or seen, but mostly Vicky. The shameful release would feel hard, tense, and wonderful; and the mess afterwards seemed to clean its self up by means of fairy magic. Afterwards he would feel disgusted with his now empty self and would cry again until the next dream took over.

Yelling was pointless this time too. All of his energy went into weeping the days away, yelling would only make his throat crack and then he would have physical pain on top of his emotional and mental scars. That isn't to say Timmy did not curse Vicky's vile name every day of the week, not to mention the Anti-Fairies and himself, but the prospect of screaming these horrid profanities out did not rouse his actions to follow suit.

Day in day out, week in week out, even months flying by perhaps? What did it matter in the end? Endless tears that could have filled rivers by now spewed from him. Endless dreams danced just out of his reach, taunting him with spectacularly ordinary images that were lost to him now, that had been taken away, stolen. Did he really deserve this? He wasn't even given the animalistic right to waste away into the earth, no; she had conjured up some heinous spell that would keep him just out of death's release. What a terrible bitch, she was making it too easy to hate her.

As his inexplicable days of nothing progressed, when the crying would subside, Timmy spent his copious amounts of free time trying to think up any plausible way to get Vicky to free him, if and when she returned. Yet the only way this seemed doable was if he earned her trust enough to let him go, but she was able to somehow tell if he lied to her, maybe due to a wish of hers, or perhaps she knew him too well. So the only way he would achieve her trust would be by fooling himself into believing that he wanted to follow her. He couldn't honestly find a way about this, though.

So back and forth in his mind this would go; to give in and admit defeat, or to stop her and whatever she had planned. Oh, but she already told him what she had planned. The world she wanted for herself… Then one day it occurred to him, a realization like fireworks illuminating the night sky. She didn't want it all to herself at all. Why had she spent years trying to change his point of view when she thought of him as an obstacle? She could have easily done away with him at the very start of this. No… She wanted to share the world with him. The Lieutenant thing she mentioned was just a justification, she didn't want to be alone this time around.

She must have been lonely. Sure she had power, money, fame, and all the sex and love in the world; but she was constantly alert and growing more and more paranoid. She had had an elite set of hand picked soldiers as her guard, did she not? To which his future self had eventually infiltrated and ultimately brought about her downfall. Or it would be more accurate to say he severed that flow of the time line. And the Vicky he knew today had all the memories belonging to that alternate Vicky, but perhaps mixing the two made her a little clearer of mind; in her head she was a young woman again, and no longer the Overlord of the entire civilized world. And what had this shown her? That she was alone in that future, at the top with no one to trust and share it with. So what better way in her twisted mind was there to remedy this? Why kidnap the twerp who caused all this in the first place and make him yours, of course!

It made as much sense as anything else in Timmy's mind. But if he was to assume that this is how Vicky was ticking now, then the question still remained: How was he going to stop her? There was no way out of this holding cell with out her supervision. Hell, there wasn't even any wiggle room!

Countless was the interim of time that passed before a new way to see the situations began to form in his skull, might as well have been months. It wasn't about freeing himself at all, or even getting her to let him go. It was about softening the impact she had on the world. If he became someone she trusted and cared about, then she would value his words and decisions, right? She had to! But that also meant he would have to value her as well, and when she wasn't being a pillow of flesh to squeeze, that was asking rather a lot of him.

In and out of consciousness for time infinite, always going over all the probabilities and coming to the same conclusion: she wanted him to be hers, so it was up to him to save the world from a bleak future. Easy, all he had to do was somehow find a way to basically love her and all would be fine, so abso-fucking-lutely easy! Well, at least the tears had stopped.

High pitched, cutting through the silence and stinging his gentle ears until they felt as if they were screaming, threatening to bleed off of his head; and it was the sound of vibrating stone which had done this. The hard chop of boots descending down, deeper into his prison, telling Timmy the horrible warden Vicky had arrived. The stone about him glowed; it was warm, made him feel warm. Ah, not bright right away, how nice of her to consider his unused eyesight. It still stung like a bitch with a nail gun on her period, but the gesture was a welcome improvement from her previous return.

"Happy birthday twerp!" Vicky sung aloud while setting a large traveling bag onto the ground, hurting his ears again, "How's it feel to be fifteen?!"

It took Timmy a moment to register this information, "F-fifteen?"

"Sure thing!" She shouted again, making him wince, "Oops, forgot you aren't used to using your ears. Here, let me remove those chains, bet you're pretty tired of 'em, huh? Ah, there, that feel better?"

"I… guess?" he said while rubbing his now freed neck, he hadn't even noticed that the damn thing was on this entire time. And what the hell was going on? Vicky was acting so… so…

"What? No thank you?" she raised an eyebrow, he tensed. On the same token he also noticed that the light was slowly becoming more luminous.

"Oh! Sorry! I mean, thanks Vicky. I'm sorry, please don-" He was sitting strait up now and on full alert, mentally preparing himself for some of her custom physical abuse before she cut in.

"Whoa, whoa, steady there twerp. It was a joke."

"A… joke?" honestly, what was happening here?

"Yeah… jeeze, I must have you frightened silly, huh?"

This question puzzled him, how was he supposed to respond to something so honestly friendly coming from her? "Am I dreaming?" he wondered aloud, though not meaning to.

"Ah, I see, you must be confused, huh?" Vicky looked as if she was about to laugh, "Well no, this isn't a dream. I could pinch you to prove it."

"Please don't…"

"Boo, spoil sport. Why do you always have to ruin my fun?"

Timmy didn't know how to react to this either. What had gotten into her? Was he really awake?

"That was a joke too, dumb ass."

"Umm…"

"Man, I should have seen this coming. Oh well, I guess it was to be expected. So~… I bet you're wondering how come I'm all happy right now, huh?"

"Yeah… something good happen?" of course something good to her could very well mean bad for anyone else.

"Well… no, not really, just wanted to try this out, I guess. Ah, more like my Cosmo suggested it," she formed an o with a hand and held it over one of her half closed eyes, "'Well my darling godchild, if you want young Timothy to be your friend might I suggest you acting the part likewise?' Or so he said," the way she imitated Anti-Cosmo's voice and manner made Timmy smile. He realized then that he hadn't smiled in a very, very long time. His heart sank to think about it.

"I'm just going with this new approach," she continued, "You know, start fresh. And he says with enough time it should feel natural, like I never tried to change my attitude towards you to begin with," her tone suddenly reverted back to the demanding no nonsense attitude he had always known and feared, "So I'm putting my foot down. These are the new rules: we are going to get along and trust each other, understand?" she placed a well manicured hand upon his head, "And if you don't actually try to go along with it," she plucked a couple hairs from his scalp, "Why I don't really know what will happen."

Timmy gulped, so she hadn't really changed at all. Instead it was just an act to get him to befriend and trust her, yet another strategy for her to test out. At least this meaning he could accept with out going mad with confusion, "So…"

"Mmmm?"

"So I have to, um, I mean we are going to act like we're friends?"

"No, Timmy," she sighed now caressing his face absentmindedly, "not act; become. Actually think of me as someone you care dearly about, despite all that has happened between us. You once told me that you never wanted to be enemies in the first place, right? Well then here is your chance. It's a new beginning, for both of us. Alright?" she was smiling again. It was strange getting a warm feeling from Vicky, the woman who had frightened him not but a few seconds ago, made things seem out of place.

He really didn't want to argue with her, but at the same time he couldn't think of a way to do as she said and mean it. "Umm…"

"What?" she was slightly harsh yet still happy, this scared the boy.

"Uh! That is, do I just start smiling? Or, umm-"

"That's how I started, sure. And when you talk to me be happy and kind, as if we had never clashed once in our lives. Starting now, in fact! So let me see you smile!"

Easier said than done, truly; but what other choice did he have? And did he really want to be subject to her strict forms of punishment when she was practically letting him off easy? Of course he was going to do as she asked, but did he really mean it? As his mouth stretched into a pathetic excuse of smile he was half afraid of a thrashing for not meaning it with all of his soul.

"What the hell is that?!" Vicky shouted, hurting his fragile ears.

"Uhhh!" Timmy was panicking now, trying to form a proper justification for his failure, but all he was able to come up with was, "A-a smile?" he saw her hand move, "I-I just forgot how to smile like that! Please! I'm sorry! I'll do it better!" it's motion was making him close his eyes and prepare for the sudden onslaught of pain… but that never came. He half opened one of his shining blue eyes against his better judgment and peeked at what was going on, then shut it right up again when Vicky's long fingers touched his wild mess of hair. Touched, but did not hurt.

She was sitting down next to him now, gently guiding his head just below her chin and then resting it on him; her other arm wrapped around his torso, bringing their two bodies together in a tight, yet gentle hug. He was still shaking, scared beyond his own measure, but now also feeling something he had forgot a lifetime ago, comfort. Or even love. Could it really be this simple? All he had to do in order to have feelings for her was to just let himself give in to her embrace and melt away? Impossible, it could not be this effortless! Years of hate and anguish could not be dissolved by a single instance of caring. Yet even as he thought bitterly on this he felt his own arms imitating hers.

This wasn't love though, he argued with a stubborn disposition to match Vicky's own, this was only need. He needed to be comforted, that's right. Just like the last night she had spent with him, he had snuggled into her body because the realization of killing another person was ravaging his mind, and her body there had helped to ease him so. That's all this was, it's all it could ever be, right? Why did he doubt his own convictions now? No! He held on tighter to Vicky, for she was beginning to pull away. Don't leave! Please don't leave! Just a little longer, he needed this.

Timmy's grasp on her was almost heartbreaking, if she had a heart that is. None the less she removed him slowly from her frame and held him by the shoulders, "Feeling better?"

He nodded, but doubted she believed him.

"Doesn't matter, just keep smiling and you won't get hit, is that cool?"

"Yes," he smiled weakly.

"Don't worry twerp; you'll get back into the swing of things."

"I hope so," he lied again.

She flicked him for this, maybe only because she trusted that he was putting a real effort in, "Well, before we can start today we're going to have to do something about that god awful attire you got on, or should I say lack there of?"

He looked down to notice he was only wearing a dirty pair of old underwear. Of course! He lost his shirt in his last lesson; and his pants, well, he could easily guess that Vicky had probably wished them away if she thought his growing with a pair of three year old jeans on wouldn't exactly help out their situation. And to think he was just hugging her like this! He tried covering himself up, embarrassment coursing through his shamed body.

Vicky laughed at his humiliation, "What's the point, twerp? We've seen each other in our bathing suits before, remember? You're such a dork! Come on, up you get! That's it. Geeze, its like I'm still talking to a kid, you're a teenager now! Perk up! Alright, since today is your birthday and all I'm going to go out of my way and get you something nice. How does that sound?"

"Uhhh," he was struggling to remember to smile, "G-great Vicky, thank you…"

"Uh huh," she eyed him disapprovingly, "I still have so much work left to do with you, and so little time too. Ah well, never mind that. You need some new duds and I've got just the taste for 'em!"

"We're, uh, we're going already?" this was pretty damn quick compared to the last two times.

"What, you don't want to leave?"

"No-no-no! I do want to go; I'm just, ah, sorry!"

She shook her head, "I'll have to shape up your confidence too. Well, if you don't want to get left behind then come on!"

He didn't hesitate to follow, and even though he knew it would be like kicking himself in the ass, he had to ask another stupid question, "No chain this time?"

"Huh? Oh that. No, I think you're beyond the choker now. Besides, I have the time belt," he just noticed that she must have been wearing it the entire time, "if you try to run away or something stupid I could just slow down or freeze time and get you," she had said this all so matter-of-factly it almost sickened him. Still, no choking did sound like good news. Was today just his lucky day or what? A whole lot better than the ones he had been forced to live through these last few years, in any case.

Up the smooth staircase they ascended, Timmy following closely behind Vicky so as to not give her a reason to lash out at him for lagging behind. The still air was so cold against his exposed skin. The hard flat texture beneath his feet was chilling, and slapped every time his naked foot would take a step. He was shivering, even as they moved on into the pitch black of the dripping cave. If they were leaving then how come it was getting darker? He would lose track of her at this rate, he had to ask her what was on his mind. So he did, and she answered back.

"Because I made it this way, you dork. I demanded my influence over this long forgotten cave be absolute, much like how I have full control over your holding pen. For example, if you look straight up you'll see stars."

He did see them! Bright, beautiful, millions! God he loved the stars. But all too soon they had faded away.

"And if you look to your left," Vicky directed, "you'll see the end of your life."

"What?!" Timmy shouted while turning in her suggested direction. Loud screaming lights were hurtling their massive bulk strait at him! A bullet train? Here?! Why?! Just feet away! He had no time to think, no time to react. He slammed his eyes shut and tried to brace for impact… nothing. All sense of the charging beast had run off. He opened his eyes, only shadowy cave greeted him. Wait, no, Vicky was laughing her guts out.

"You actually looked! What a dumb ass! Oh fuck, that's classic," she heaved a calming sigh, but was still very much amused by her heart stopping trick, "I see why you would always pull crap like this on me now, its so damn rewarding!"

He was shivering still, but this time for an entirely different reason than being cold. Long ago, when he had played pranks like this on her had it been just as she had said? Rewarding? That seemed like another life time, though he certainly could remember it. And had she felt just as terrorized as he did now? A part of him was sorry if she did, though he definitely didn't feel much like apologizing to her just then.

Vicky had to take the young man by his wrist to get him to come along with her. Eventually Timmy couldn't even make out the tip of his nose it had gotten so dark. His leader, however, seemed to somehow know the way. On and on they traveled, until finally he could see it, sunlight! It stung his unpracticed eyes but that mattered little, it was the first light, true natural light he had seen in nearly three years. As they approached tears were streaming down his face again.

What brilliance, totally different from clear night skies. Sure, they were in the middle of a forest somewhere, and the trees hide most of the sky in a static fever. But it was warm now, and clear. No wonder sunshine was seen as a heavenly convoy to the religions of all history; it made so much sense to him now. He wanted to run, to play, to spin round in this glorious glow. Vicky, however, held firm to him when he tried.

"Where the hell do you think you're off to?" she had asked him immediately, scorn dancing about her upbeat words.

"I… well, I wanted to feel free in the sun," he then realized that mentioning anything to do with his freedom was probably a bad idea, so he recanted, "I mean, um, that is to stretch my legs some… is that alright with you?"

"Hmm…" it seemed she had to put considerable thought into this, "I don't know, twerp, do you think you deserve to?"

"Oh…" his head began to hang.

"I mean, you haven't really been smiling all that much since I asked you to."

There was something in the way she was speaking that made him look up again. She was smiling, but not in a crazed or malicious nature. More like she was being playful, encouraging him to play along. A joke! It was her joking again! What was he supposed to do with this? Also joke? Play along? That seemed right. He so wanted to run about what did it matter if the price was just to humor her little experiment? He gave her a huge smile, "Sure I have! You must be going blind Vicky!" Stupid sounding, but it was a start.

Vicky laughed, "That's the spirit!" she shouted with a strange sort of glee while tossing his hand away.

He stared at her for a hard moment, making sure he didn't misinterpret her gesture. But there was no mistaking it; she was going to let him move about freely. Under her supervision, yes of course, yet the ability to roam around was available. He began walking, taking notice just how soft the wet grass between his toes felt, it must not have been but a few weeks old, and so well cared for too! Why, the entire forest floor seemed to be cleared of all stones, leaves, or other obstructions that would make walking barefoot undesirable. Was this Vicky's doing? He wondered.

He took notice that his captor was sitting on a large smooth rock now, grey like the cave entrance which was plastered on the side of a protruding fissure, one that must have ruptured out of the ground eons ago. She was holding one leg up to her chest, while her free hand lay to her side, giving her body stability on the awkward object. But it wasn't her posture that caught his eye, it was her expression. There was something unnerving in seeing her smile like that. Not the crazed, psychotic smile he had grown used to in his childhood, but the feign at caring, it didn't feel… natural. And she wanted this of him? How could he? Even the smile he returned to her he was sure she didn't trust.

He looked away from her, better to enjoy the outdoors while he could than to worry about her intentions. It did smell a nice green to him too, like fresh spring flowers, wild flowers. The birds chirped happily, unknowing of this human's fate that began to spin around. He always liked to spin as a kid. Looking up as the designs of the world whirled faster and faster until it all blurred together into some rapid painting he could never reproduce any other way. Oh god how fun this simple act was! Look at them now, those dark trees! Those bright blue and white patches of sky! Mixing together again! Faster and faster! This was surely a magic in and of itself!

Too dizzy, way too dizzy. His feet were fumbling. He had to steady himself or else he would- oops, too late, already flat on his ass. And these boxer shorts did little in keeping the moisture off of him. Timmy looked up to see Vicky approaching. Well, he hadn't expected this moment to last that long in the first place anyway. No big surprise there. Slowly he steadied himself upright, the world still slightly ajar, but it was going back to normal. He faced away from her to take in the scene a little better. Moss on the trees, a few small harmless insects flying through the air, the crisp old forest air. And was that a hill he was standing on top of? He began approaching it to better see.

Pit pat pit pat pit pat! Running! He turned just in time to see wild flying fire red hair. And then a lurch in his stomach as he was collided into, gripped onto, a tackle! She had tackled him! And they were moving backwards through the air, then falling, good god they would land onto the bank of the hillside! They did! Another shock to his system as the crash came, the rigid crash right before the rolling. He tried to free himself but her arms were too tightly coiled around his own. Too late, they were now in full motion, blurring the world far worse than he had ever done on purpose. Now she was laughing, elated with screams of joy.

Tumbling down and down and downward, seemingly forever. Why had they not hit any trees? There were so many tress it was hazardous. But he did not want to stop; this had become fun now too. Scary still, but ever more fun. Then they reached even ground, and slowed to a stop on their sides. Vicky wasn't about to accept this though and gave one final lurch, putting the young man on his back. She straddled him. The pair were both breathing so heavily, it must have been a whole minute before either could speak again.

"You… got you…" Vicky huffed, a smile showing off her pearly white teeth, "I win,"

"Do you always have to?" Timmy inquired, though trying his best to make it sound like a good natured jest.

"Of course," she laid out plainly as she sat strait up now, putting pressure onto his lower belly. She was looking strait up into the sky, or what she could see of it through the foliage in any case.

Timmy knew better than to ruin her fun, even if it was uncomfortable for him. He stayed patient like any good dog would, trying to act normal with her on top of him like this. Finally she looked down at his face and tilted her head.

"I broke you," she said.

"Broke me?"

"Yeah, took you apart, changed what you were. You are so submissive now, so willing to please me, though maybe just 'cause you fear my hand. But whatever the case is, I still broke you."

He looked away from her for this. Being reminded that he was still in a shitty situation just when he was able to believe he could forget about it all, well, it had hurt him. Vicky made a small concerned sound. He hated it, he wished that she was her old self again, not the fake image of a woman that pretended to care about him.

"But don't worry, twerp, I'll make you all better. No…" she paused for a second, "I make you better than that even, better than you ever were before," her unbecoming smile had returned, it chilled him.

When Vicky stood to her feet she pulled Timmy up with her. He was wobbly still, but could manage walking just fine as he took after her direction. The young man thought about what this could mean. Better than he was before? Better in what sense? Vicky's? He would just have to wait and see, he just hoped his body could take it.