There was a deep exhale as Zero took a pause. Slowly his body sunk into the sand. The hot carefully turning to cool. It was only a moment reprieve as another followed behind closely. Shoving Zero forward into the unknown. Towards heaven, or, perhaps, hell. Zero shoved the other away as he felt the touch of Nightmare on his shoulder. There was only a grin in response to the disgust.
"What? Is the ultimate killing machine tired already!?" he gave a laugh as Zero snarled.
A machine did not feel tired. Could not feel exhaustion. But his shoulders were heavy. His heart even more burdensome. The weight of the world sinking deeper into him. "Where are you taking me?"
Nightmare shrugged in response. "Anywhere but Dr. Gate's lab." Zero shuddered. "I'm not sure yet. I haven't found the best coffin yet." There was a shrill laughter that came from the copy.
"I'll kill you," Zero bared his teeth at the other. A hand was carefully placed on the saber at his side. The cold touch of Wolfang lingered.
"Are you?" Nightmare purred. "If you are, then why haven't you yet?" The copy paused his steps as Zero walked onward towards the nothingness. Towards the abyss of the desert sands. "Are you scared?"
Zero paused his step once more. Sinking into that beautiful dune. His breaths were heavy. Quick. Erratic. Eyes darted this way and that as if searching for the conclusion of why his hand had stayed the blade. Why his mind seemed to wander towards death but gave pause to this reflection that hovered over his soul. There was a pause from Zero as he turned to stare hard at the other. But the pause was enough of an answer for Nightmare.
"So… you've decided that you no longer want to kill?"
That conclusion drove Zero mad. Anger pierced Zero's face as life breathed into him from those words.
Killing was all he was good for.
Killing was all he ever wanted to do.
Killing brought him peace in the endless torment of life.
It silenced the system.
But now with the system silent now more than ever… what was the purpose to kill? What was the purpose to slaughter?
"I don't know what Wolfang saw in you," Nightmare scoffed as he approached Zero. He leaned forward. Eyes tracing Zero up and down. Analyzing him. But not peeling back to the soul. "A good for nothing wolf."
Zero shook his head. But it only caused his mind to spin.
"He told me where to go," Zero whispered.
Nightmare drew back, staring at Zero in confusion. "Where? Out here?" Nightmare opened his arms up. Spinning around in the sea. "Out in this place?"
Zero shook his head once more. The world kept spinning.
"He showed me where to go," his hand felt the saber at his side. Felt the familiarity of what had been home. Now lost in that sea.
His body shuddered. His head spun. The world twisted into an unrecognizable landscape. The endless desert became an endless sea. In the sky he saw the fish. In the sand he saw the fishermen. Hunting endlessly the shadows below. Hunting endlessly for something that would bring no end.
He knelt upon his knees. Staring at the people chasing the aberrations. Staring at the shadows that danced upon the endless dunes. Watched as the people tried endlessly to escape their purgatory. Watched as he would become them soon as well.
The dreams twisted into reality.
The reality into dreams.
How many endless others had walked through this very trail? How many other selves of his own would become those hunters? To continue throwing their hooks into the shadows?
To continue….
To continue…
To continue…
To continue to sleepwalk…