Okay, the last chapter was poop. Let me redeem myself.
"Ne...farious..." Mariana said a little hesitantly. "...Nefarious..."
Nefarious' heart gave a not so gentle squeeze when she said his name. In fact, it was a little painful. He had always wanted to be called by his name, especially by a 'significant' other. But, it never happened. Like explained before, he was always called by hurtful names, or just Dr. Tropy. He was even called 'entropy' as a joke to his name. The sad part is, even his parents had never called him by his own name. And they gave it to him.
He was convinced that his parents hated him, and looked at his birth as a mistake. As soon as he was old enough, they had taken him to the Academy of Evil and left him there. They did not even bother to say goodbye. He has not seen or heard of them ever since. He had never been read a bedtime story as a child, never been shown any affection, was always alone in the world.
Due to that, he had become unsocial, and unwilling to really bond with anyone. He considered himself lucky to have found the N-Team. And although they often annoyed the crap out of him, he felt as if he had some sort of family. But, the only problem was, they were a bunch of evil freaks... just like him.
All he ever really wanted in life was to have a normal family with normal friends, and live life to the fullest. But, he was just not able to accomplish it. He was convinced that his life would be hell until he died. A living hell without gates. No chance to escape. But now, he felt differently. He felt lifted from all his pain and suffering... because of Mariana.
She had accepted him, relieved him from his scars of his past and his personal demons. And, although he did not think that she had feelings of love and affection for him, she showed him the things that he should have already known at his age. Twenty-six, and only now he knows. He felt as if he was taking advantage of that, and it felt wrong, but at the same time, it felt right. She was like a hero to him. Yet, the feeling of hatred still did not fade. Hidden somewhere deep inside him, it was growing stronger, and waiting for the right time to strike and make him self-destruct.
He was confusing himself. Mixed emotions were never something he had to deal with before. He looked at her face, she had already drifted into sleep in his arms. It pained him, knowing that what he was doing to her was so wrong. She most likely knew that he was taking advantage of her, but either way, she allowed it. She probably knew what he had went through for his whole life up until this point, and only wanted to help him, even if it meant throwing away her own life and all that she has lived up to in her six hundred years on this earth. She was once, and according to history, she is a knight. That made her a hero already. She stepped into line to give her life for whoever needed it back then, and she was doing it again now. The facts made him feel even worse.
Ha... I never cared about wrongdoing before. He thought sarcastically. He ran his fingers through her hair as she slept. You look so peaceful in your sleep. I'm sorry, Mariana. He wondered if she was really alright with it, and worried if she would ever forgive him if she was not. But, thank you. You're helping me survive. He kissed her forehead and continued to run his fingers through her hair. She stirred, but did not wake.
Holding her close, he fell asleep as well.
In Nefarious' dream, he was alone in an old abandoned cemetery in the middle of the woods. He had no clue where he was. Looking around, he saw all the tombstones. Engraved on each of them was someone with the family name... 'Tropy'. He was a little disturbed and looked at all their names. He recognized a few as relatives he had met when he was a small child, but the rest were people he had never even heard of. Looking around again, it was not only the tombstones nearby, but every other tombstone was engraved with someone with his family name... Until he found three new tombstones lined up.
... Neo Periwinkle Cortex ... N. Gin ... Nitrous Brio ...
He jumped back in alarm, then began searching all over the cemetery for his own tombstone... but it was nowhere to be found. He ran back to the graves of his friends and looked at the death dates. Dr. Cortex's was 2054. N. Gin's was 2053. Dr. Brio's was 2051. This was confusing him. He should have been dead by then. Or at least he thought so.
He looked around on the spot, and got an ancient church in his sights. Standing near it was a hooded figure holding a scythe. He could see the eyes of that person glowing red in the dark shadow created by the hood. It beckoned for him, and disappeared into the church. Not knowing what else to do, he followed it inside. This was only a dream, after all. If something happened here, it would not matter.
The inside of the church was black as pitch. He smacked his knee on something. Surprisingly, he felt it. Walking further in, following the red eyes, he stepped on something, hearing a crunching sound. He stopped abruptly. Candles were lit by themselves. Looking down, he noticed that what he had stepped on... was the ribcage of a skeleton. He jumped away from it, looking back at the hooded figure. It had faced its back to him, looking at a painting of a pentagram. Lowering its hood, it looked back at him. He was surprised, shocked really, to see himself standing there. Still looking like he was twenty-six years old.
"You were warned..." the cloaked him said. "Of the price of evil... Why did you not listen?" He paced in front of the pews. "She warned you. She knew what it would do to you, and you knew. But no... you had to break her mind by saying the three words that brought so many to their deaths."
"What?" The real him was confused. He had no idea what he was talking about. His cloaked self laughed.
He walked up and got in his real self's face. "It's. Worth. It." He said, one word at a time. The real Nefarious could see the hatred in the eyes of the other him. "You're... no, I'm a monster." He said, his voice softening, but not his expression. "Be thankful that this is only a dream... or I would kill you like the Necromancer that you've become!" He stepped back, throwing his arms up into the air when he said 'Necromancer'.
"What the hell are you talking about?" The real Nefarious was getting confused and angry. "I'm not a Necromancer!"
"Not yet, but you will be!" He shook his head in grief. "So, heed my warning, and GIVE IT UP. It's definitely NOT worth it."
The real him sighed. "What happened? Tell me, so I can avoid it."
"You figure it out." He replied with a cold look. "Just keep in mind, give up Necromancy, and..." he laid a hand on the real one's shoulder. "Never break her heart again." He no longer looked hostile, only sad. "That's the worst thing that you've ever done... then comes killing people. She won't forgive you, and then you're really all alone."
Nefarious took a minute to keep these thoughts in his head, then he wondered. "What year is it?"
"Now?"
"Yeah."
"It's at least 10,000."
The real him was speechless.
"Yeah, time really goes by." He laughed sarcastically. "Funny coming from me, once the Master of Time... Yes, that was my old title." He paused. "One last thing." He lifted his real self's shirt and pushed his palm hard on his back.
The real him screamed in pain. It was like a fire was burning inside him. This lasted for a few minutes, and then it stopped abruptly. He found himself on the floor... and his future self was gone.
Nefarious awoke with a start and a scream of fear, making Mariana jolt next to him.
"What's wrong?" She asked concerned.
He ran to a mirror and looked closely at himself. His eyes were still green. He sighed in relief, but then realized that his back hurt.
"Hold still." Mariana said firmly. She lifted his shirt to take a look at his back, and she gasped. "Oh my god..."
"What, what?" He was freaking out now.
Okay, better in my opinion. Now, the first part up until Nefarious fell asleep was inspired by "Hero" by Skillet. Then, from where he falls asleep until he wakes up was inspired by "Nightmare" by Avenged Sevenfold and "Monster" also by Skillet. Try listening to them while reading this, please. I just hope you enjoyed this bit.
