When Val had latched onto him, Vox hadn't quite registered what had happened.
It happened so quickly, one moment he was away from Val and the next thing he knew, Val had grabbed him by the hood and pulled him into a tight hold before he plunged into the depths below in an effort to join him in death.
That boy…Charles was his name, at least that was what he could remember tried to reach out to him, to save him from impending doom yet his hand was just out of reach of Vox's and Vox could see the terror in his eyes as he plunged further downward, calling out his name helplessly before eventually disappearing from sight.
Normally whenever people fell, they'd let out a terrified scream but Vox's state of shock left him paralyzed, not letting his mouth make any sort of noise.
It was only when Vox's body was forced underwater that Vox had snapped out of his trance when the water invaded his nostrils.
Vox's senses quickly caught up with him and he instinctively rose to the surface in an attempt to catch his breath, gasping for air."GAH!"
When the former TV Demon came around, his eyes were wide from the sudden realization he was still alive, his heart pounding through his chest. He then looked around to see that the current had pushed him in the middle of the ocean and the waves were far from gentle as he had to swim just to keep himself afloat.
'F-Fuck…where am I?' He thought to himself, he had never seen the ocean before in this world and that waterfall must've pushed him really far if he was out here.
"VELVET?" He shouted,"VEL? ARE YOU OUT HERE?"
No response. He cursed his luck, he was out here in the middle of the ocean with who knows what and Velvet was nowhere near him.
'There's no way this could possibly get any worse..'
Just as he thought that, Vox's eyes widened when he heard something emerge from the water's surface behind him and suddenly grab him, an all too familiar voice mockingly asked,"Going somewhere, Vincent?"
"Val!" He shouted, eyes wide with terror. He hadn't anticipated Val surviving the fall, let alone hiding underneath the water and attacking him out of nowhere. It was so unexpected and he was never more terrified to be all alone with Val than now."H-How did you-"
"You didn't think you were the only one able to swim, did you?" Val chuckled,"If you really thought mere drowning was going to take me out then you are sadly mistaken…"
Vox tensed, this was not good. He was out all by himself with Val in the middle of the sea and there was no sign of civilization whatsoever. He was all alone and there was no one out here who could hear him scream for help….
Fear paralyzed him, terrified as Val moved closer,"S-Stay away from me you monster!"
"Don't be like that, Vincent, you know that it has to be like this. You forced my hand and it's time to end this. One of us needs to die and I know it's not going to be me."
Val quickly grabbed him by the neck and began attempting to submerge Vox underwater and drown him. Vox wrangled and struggled to break free as water began to fill his nostrils and lungs, his vision only able to see blurs as Val attempted to kill him once and for all. He could still hear Val's voice berating him from under the deep and Vox could feel himself slipping, his grip on Val's hand becoming weaker and weaker.
Bubbles rose to the surface as Vox's head was forced under the water even further, Val choking him in the process and going as far as to punch him, drawing blood from the blonde who could only gargle and choke out in pain.
Val was gonna make him drown in his own blood and misery…and he was intent on enjoying it.
Worst part was that he could hear Val mocking him from above,"Goddamn, you're so pathetic, Vincent. You're nothing but a sentimental pushover, if I hadn't helped you after that excuse of a wife of yours died you would've been nothing. And how do I get repaid? With backtalk and rebellion. I suppose we both knew this day was coming, didn't think I'd actually have to put you down. It's such a shame, had you not been so weak and emotional we could've been perfect together for the rest of time. I'll have to find someone else to replace you with once you're gone and bury your memory once and for all. Because without me, you'd be nothing and it's time I destroy what I created. Goodbye, Vincent. It's time to join that 'beloved' wife of yours once and for all…"
As Val prepared to finish him off, something in Vox snapped. All the years of abuse, neglect and bad treatment had finally risen to the surface and Vox's eyes were burning with blind rage and a thirst for vengeance."NO!
He was tired of it. He was tired of being bossed around. Tired of getting hit in the face for petty reasons. Tired of Val controlling his life. He couldn't stand it anymore and he'd be damned again before he stood there and let Val kill him without a fight.
Without thinking, Vox acted on instincts, grabbing Val's neck and electrocuting him in the water.
Val let out a shriek in agony as he electrocuted, the current of the water reacting to the electricity's presence. Vox then went as far as to electrocute Wall with lighting directly from the sky, causing him to let out an inhuman scream before he eventually succumbed to the strong currents that had been forced into him.
Val's body was charred and black, smoke coming from it. Vox shoved Val off of him, forcing the dead man into the sea and watching as his body sank to the bottom of the ocean….
Vox's breath hitched as his blind rage subsided before the realization of what he had done hit him like a truck.
He…he had just killed Val. He electrocuted him to death and allowed his body to sink into the water, an action he had done without thinking until the deed was already over.
"Oh my god…What have I done!?" He asked himself, unable to come up with an answer.
It wasn't like he hadn't killed people before, his first kill was in Hell(he was a gameshow host and while he did hurt people he wasn't ballsy enough to kill people on a live TV show with the cameras rolling).
It was his first day in Hell and he had still been adjusting to being damned for all eternity when some imp demon tripped over his foot and fell over hard, cracking his skull open and laying in a pool of blood.
At the time, Vox was a total newb and had no idea how sinners and hellborns differed. When he asked if there were any hospitals around, all the demons stared at him before asking what a hospital was…
Yeah, that was how he learned there was no healthcare in Hell. Literally the worst possible timing to be informed there was no healthcare system when you accidentally cracked someone's skull open.
He asked if the imp would respawn and was abruptly informed that Hellborns were unable to respawn like Sinners.
Unable to fix this, Vox opted to just hide the person's body since it wasn't like he could turn himself into the police(would anyone care if he did honestly?) and did his best to move on from the incident.
Over time he grew desensitized by death though that did stick with him even after all those years. It was his introduction for how cruel Hell was and Vox wasn't going to lie, he honestly became the worst version of himself to keep himself alive in Hell.
It was more or less a necessity if you wanted to stay alive, it was a hound-eat-hound world and Vox had learned that being soft was a great way to get murdered. Money and power was the only way to keep yourself afloat in Hell and Vox had focused on obtaining as much as he could to keep his position.
A few decades had passed and he met Val at a club. He had reluctantly decided to get himself back up in the dating game as he wanted to at least try and pretend he moved on from his wife.
On that particular day, he had been trying to ask out women to no avail.
Apparently women didn't like men with literal TV's for heads and Vox was experiencing technical difficulties getting a girlfriend because of this. Val must've noticed how unlucky he was and made his move towards him, offering a drink with an overly friendly 'hello'.
He knew something was up with Val and was initially suspicious but Val's charm melted his suspension away. They had a few drinks and one thing led to another when Vox woke up in the same bed as him the next day, a relationship forming from the encounter.
Val had helped him expand his multimedia empire, offering advice on how to do things and gain more power and prestige. In exchange, Vox gave him pretty much whatever he ask for, hottest clothes, sex, money, it was all fair game.
Course there are downsides, like Val's inability to empathize and treating any disagreement as an invitation to bust someone's face in. The cycle was damn near endless and Vox could categorize his relationship with Val in a handful of steps.
Talk with Val, Argue with Val, get hit in the face by Val after angering him, 'break-up' for the tenth time this month and then ulatmly come back with a gift to ease Val's mood and have make-up sex. Rinse and repeat this for several decades on end and you start to see why Vox wasn't exactly happy with his relationship.
And this was what he did. He killed him…
OK, it was not technically his Val but the fact he had killed him so suddenly and without the slightest hint of hesitation shook him a little. It was like someone else had taken over his body and done the unthinkable.
He was supposed to be triumphant…happy that Val was gone. But instead he felt…guilty. He had 'won' for all intents and purposes but at what cost?
He then looked around to see he was stuck in what appeared to be a vast ocean with no sign of human life for miles. He was trapped in the stormy seas, the waves were violent and harsh and there was no way for Vox to contact anyone for miles. His ears were ringing, the side of his head was bleeding and his heart was throbbing.
He was going to drown out here…alone. No one would find his body and the only person who probably cared that he died was Velvet, who likely had assumed he had died if she heard about him falling.
If he didn't drown,he'd starve or die of thirst. There was no clean water out here, much less food. Drowning might actually be more preferable given he wouldn't be able to survive at sea on his own.
Drowning was looking like an appealing option compared to slowly starving, dying of thirst. It was painful but he took the quicker death over the drawn out one.
Wasn't like he had much to live for. His wife was dead, he killed another version of his ex and Velvet probably thought he was dead. Only people who cared for him were unable to reach him and he was all alone now…
Besides, he wouldn't be able to keep himself floating, not with these damn currents knocking him around. He'd eventually tire out and that time was coming sooner rather than later. Once that happened…he'd stop resisting the inevitable...and maybe..just maybe...he'd see that wife of his again once he was gone...
Meanwhile, under the ocean, Seviathan and Helsa had started to grow bored. They had done nothing but sit around doing nothing. They had done nothing of note in over a month and the twins were beginning to die of boredom.
By now, the twins were desperate for something to captivate their attention. Helsa especially.
Not only had she lost her voice but she was restricted to this stupid kingdom of which she knew damn near nothing about. This palace was like a gilded cage and she was far from pleased with being stuck here.
Then again, Seviathan wasn't all too happy about it either but he seemed to try and make do with the situation, at least until they could find a way out of there.
Still, that did nothing to stop Helsa's imagination from wandering; she couldn't help but find herself becoming bored. If she didn't find something to do soon she was probably going to go insane from the lack of activity.
'There's got to be a way out of this palace. I just wanna leave…' She thought as she gazed out her window.
Sooner or later, Seviathan would come to bother her about her sign language lessons. She had a good grasp on it by now but he insisted since 'she still needed to keep up on her practice' so to speak.
She called bullshit.
She was under the impression that the 'lessons' were just ways for Seviathan to ease his guilt about the situation by spending time with her in order to make up for accidentally making her mute.
Not that it was a bad thing but she would've preferred if he outright said rather than using the excuse of her 'needing lessons' for her speech problem.
However, today, she didn't want to have a lesson, she just wanted to be by herself, find some new people and be free.
Course being in this damn castle was eliminating the chance of Helsa finding anyone to talk to
and she knew Sevithan would insist on following her every move as a 'precaution' for her safety.
Helsa then narrowed her eyes, she had to get out of here before Seviathan came to 'check in' on her. She wasn't going to spend the rest of her life in this damn palace and she was going to make sure of it.
So Helsa reached for her window and pulled it open so she could fit and then closed it behind her. She quickly snuck around the back of the castle where it was less guarded before swimming off as soon as the coast was clear.
The guards weren't all too bright and Helsa doubted anyone would notice she was gone for a little while. She was only going out for a swim, nothing more…
Helsa began to swan around, gaining some distance from the kingdom. The moment it was out of sight a sigh of relief escaped her lips.
Free…she was finally free. Not chained to the palace of her brother's gaze, it was just her and the ocean…
Helsa continued to swim further and further. She wasn't quite sure where she was going or where she was. The ocean was vast and seemingly endless and Helsa wasn't sure where she was…
As she was swimming, she couldn't help but notice something in the water. At first she thought it was a fish but when her eyes adjusted, she realized that it was far too humanoid to be a fish. She thought that it was a mermaid but noticed they had no tail and were wearing clothes…
'A humanoid? So far from land? What are they doing out here?'
Curious, Helsa decided to get closer and realized that they were sinking to the bottom, the bubbles from their mouths becoming smaller and smaller by the passing second…
It was only then that she realized…that the person in the water needed air and they were drowning. Normally..Helsa wouldn't care if someone was drowning and would've left the person to their fate though something compelled her to save them.
Perhaps it was curiosity, pity or a mix of both but she decided to at least try and bring them to shore. The siren then acted on her impulses and pulled him up towards the surface, battling through the waves that threatened to send them back.
The waves were rough though Helsa managed to prevail through them, swimming as long as she could until she could find land. She quickly rushed him to shore, forcing herself out of water so they could be placed comfortably on land.
The moment she got them on land, she decided to take a closer look at the person as the view she had gotten of them prior wasn't clear.
Her eyes widened when she saw a young male with long blonde hair and elf ears. He wore a long regal cloak with a hood and had black dots under his shoes. His hair was damp and matted, whatever style it once had was undone.
His eyes were still closed and his body was put her head against his chest and could feel that his heart-rate was beyond faint and he wasn't responding to any sort of touch. At the rate he was going…he would die…
'But I put him on land…why isn't he getting up?' Suddenly, it hit her, he was a land-dwelling creature and it was likely the water had gotten into his lungs.
Sirens were amphibious, at least in terms of being able to breath on land and water. This man was merely a regular land dweller and wasn't able to breathe like Helsa was.
Her mind then hatched an idea, recalling the lessons in Health Class about CPR. She barely cared for the class but she did recall enough about the mouth-to-mouth CPR that she was confident in being able to do it.
She leaned in and began to enact the steps necessary to resuscitate him. It definitely wasn't as pleasant as those cheesy romance movies made it out to be but she figured the technique would do the trick.
When she questioned if it was working, his body began convulsing and she retracted once he started coughing and wheezing, gasping for air repeatedly and going so far as to spit out the sea water that entered his body.
"Gak! Ack!" He wheezed as he got rid of the remaining water that had forced its way into his body. He fought to regain his breath, panting heavily as he came around.
When his breathing returned to normal, his state of mind was hazy, as if he hadn't fully registered what had happened. When he looked around, his voice trembled as he stammered,"W-What? Where am I? Did…did I die?" He then noticed Helsa and reached out to her and asked,"L-Lenore? Is that you?"
She gave him a bemused look, she had no idea who this 'Lenore' person was but she was convinced he had the wrong person and mistook her for someone else. She shook her head and he paused, looking her up and down for a second before backing away slightly, the realization that she was a total stranger hitting him like a load of bricks.
"Wait a second…you're not my wife..W-Who are you?"
Helsa made a face, she couldn't exactly speak to him so she was unable to explain herself when pressed. It was only now that she was starting to wish Sevithan was here to translate since there was a clear communication barrier present when interacting with others.
This became rather evident when the man she rescued was staring at her like she was didn't seem to understand and appeared annoyed at her lack of response, taking her silence to mean that she was intentionally ignoring him.
"Hey, are you deaf? You know I'm speaking to you right? Explain yourself because I'm not even sure what's real or what's not and if you're some type of fucked up hallucination just fucking say it instead of playing mind-games with me." He narrowed his eyes when she didn't say anything,"Well? Are you going to say something or what?"
Helsa then made a motion with her throat in hopes he would understand her situation. He had stared at her in confusion for a moment at her signals,"What the hell are you doing? Is something wrong with your throat? Are you sick?"
She shook her head and tried saying words to demonstrate her lack of speech only for no sound to come out.
It took a few moments before it suddenly dawned on him and he gasped,"Wait…you can't talk, can you?"
She frowned and averted her gaze in response.
"Oh…" He mumbled, his cheeks heating up with embarrassment. Definitely not his best moment and he was slightly ashamed that he had gotten angry with a mute woman about her condition on accident."I…I'm sorry. I didn't know…"
Helsa shrugged, honestly she had dealt with worse and it wasn't like he was aware of her predicament prior. Besides, it was obvious he wasn't in the best state of mind given his prior statements…
He then said,"Listen…I don't know who you are but I just wanted to ask you something. I know it's a stupid question but I'm still kind of in a state of shok and I want to know did you save me and pull me to shore?"
She shook her head 'yes' and he seemed…bemused? It was hard to tell given his expression but he did seem a little surprised.
"Damn…I didn't think anyone would find me out in the ocean. My 'luck' continues to amaze me after all these years…" He muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was far from his first near death experience but this was a pretty close call….
Today was not his day was it?
He then sighed,"Listen…I don't know who you are or how you saved me, but I'm still somewhat glad you managed to get me out of there. I would've never made it on shore by myself. By the way, my name is Vincent but I prefer my nickname, Vox."
Helsa paused, she had heard that name before. She had the latest edition of the Hell-phone prior to falling and the brand was from the Vox's company back in Hell. She didn't even realize it was him as the Vox she and everyone in Hell was used to seeing had a screen for a face and here she was seeing him with a full head of hair.
The Princess of Envy had a hard time believing that she was even looking at the same person. She had expected Vox to look a lot different without the screen though that may have been due to the timeline influencing his uniform as it was like it had changed his original form like it had with her's.
And she was doubting they were the only ones like this.
"Wait a second," Vox said before looking downward,"Are…are you naked?"
She cocked her head to the side, as if to give him a 'Obviously I am' glance.
She was honestly impressed he only now just noticed she didn't have any clothes. What use did she have for conventional clothing when she didn't even have legs and she was underwater most of the time? It wasn't like she could walk(she could crawl but that was uncomfortable on land) and it was faster to swim without clothes dragging you down.
'Shit, she doesn't have a bra. Come on Vincent, don't look,' He thought to himself as he did his best to keep his view of Helsa above the neck, trying to ignore the blush flooding up to his cheeks.
Helsa must've noticed this struggle and chuckled. It wasn't like she wasn't aware she had men leering at her body, it happened countless times and Helsa was damn near proud of it but it was another thing for someone to avoid looking at.
Had it just been some street urchin she would brush it off but given this was Vox, she found his sudden interest in avoiding looking at her body fairly strange and amusing given he walked around demons dressed in skimpy clothing without batting an eye but Helsa having no clothes on was suddenly an issue.
"Uh…no offense you lady, you like good but I'm trying to be respectful by not…you know…" He mumbled. Helsa really did look attractive to him but he really didn't want to look like a pervert just because she was particularly naked and his mind wasn't in it's best state right now.
The siren snickered before playfully giving him a peck on the cheek to mess with him. Vox's brain pretty shut off when this happened and his heart skipped a beat at her lush lips planting themselves on his face.
She then made her way off shore and back into the water, Vox suddenly snapping out of his trance and running to the edge and shouting,"HEY! WAIT A SECOND! GET BACK HERE! YOU CAN'T JUST KISS ME OUTTA NOWHERE AND LEAVE! I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOUR NAME! COME BACK!"
His words fell on deaf ears as Helsa soon vanished into the water, the last thing he saw of her was her tail flapping through the ocean before disappearing into the deep blue sea.
The former TV Demon groaned in response,"Ugh! The nerve of that woman! Randomly kissing me like that only to run away without even giving me any information of who she is!"
He then grabbed his cheek and rubbed the mark where she kissed him. He couldn't recall the last time anyone kissed him like that before. Val's kisses were always more lustful and on the violent side, the rat was incapable of not leaving a few marks or bruises even when specifically asked not to.
Worst part was that…he kind of liked it. He hadn't felt such tenderness and care in a while and his mind did crave affection in that manner.
'Vincent don't think about her like that. She's just a siren, she saved your life but don't think about it personally. She's probably just fucking around with you. She's just trying to get into my head like everyone else…' He thought to himself trying to reign himself in,'She's just messing with me…I know she is. I let Val fuck with my head, I won't let any person do that again, even if she saved my life…'
Despite this thought, a small, silent part of his mind desired to see her again and he hoped that maybe…she'd come back to meet him sometime. He really did want to see her again, if only because she reminded him of someone she used to know with those eyes…
He then turned to see where she had dropped him off, seeing she had placed him in an entirely different area. The current must've pushed him back here if this was where she decided to put him and there already seemed to be a civilization up ahead.
Nearby, he saw docks and a bridge connected to a city. He sighed before heading up the dock and entering, knowing he had to find work in order to sustain himself. He wasn't certain if anyone would be willing to hire him in his current state, with matted hair, looking like he had been put through the wringer but he was certain that he could deal with it when he got there…
He'd fix his looks later, but right now…he needed a job and a place to stay…
Helsa managed to sneak her way into her room, her mind still focused on the encounter. When she got back in her room, she couldn't help but think of Vox, reminiscing about how 'flustered' and 'cute' he was during their first meeting.
'He's so cute…' She thought to himself. She never thought she'd think that way of the man who was known to Hell as the 'TV Demon' but without that box over his head he truly was handsome. That TV hid all of his features and Vox was far more attractive than she had initially anticipated.
As she was thinking, the door to her room opened and she saw Seviathan enter,"Hey Helsa, you've been rather quiet. Are you ready for your lessons today or what?"
She rolled her eyes before nodding, allowing her brother to set up the lesson. She already knew everything by now so it wasn't like she needed to do so, she was just doing it to satisfy her brother.
As Seviathan went over their teaching, Helsa's mind wandered back to Vox, the urge to see him again filling her heart. He certainly seemed interesting and spending time with Vox was surely better than 'studying' and being cooped up in a palace all day…
Internally, Helsa wanted nothing more than to see him again, if only to cure her boredom and to entertain herself. Their interaction left an impression on her and she was eager to find out more about him, to know about all the secrets in his life and most importantly, to know what made him tick.
Every man had a weakness and Helsa was intent on finding out because she had grown bored of being at home all the time and she did need a new boy-toy, it's been a while since she broke a man's heart and Vox seemed like a fresh meat, a new target for her to subject her desires and wants to…
Call it cruel but Helsa wanted to have a bit of fun and Vox captivated her attention. Best to play the long game and see how long she could lead him on until ultimately throwing him out like every other 'boyfriend' she had in her life.
It was a twisted game for own amusement but she always had fun toying with them, making them think she was interested only to throw them out once they exhausted their use.
'I can't wait…' She thought to herself, a sly grin growing on her face in anticipation,'Let the game's begin…
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Enigmus-288: Well at least something 'good' happened. That's something.