Post by Zuyuri on Jan 5, 2017 7:55:28 GMT
The headaches were getting worse, but Shadow had decided to fight it off with time out of the city. Raoul Park didn't exactly count as being out of the city limits, all the homounculus cop knew was he needed to get away from just...modernization in general. Time away from bustling cties, from faces that knew him as 'the-cop-who-brought-in-a-killer.' His mind was throbbing still as he parked his skates outside the city limits, just staring at the skyline. The sky was still red over Bellerouge. Shadow wondered if he ever remembered a day when the sky was a color other than the blood red hue it was.
He shook his head violently. There he went again, trying to pick up pieces of his past. Thinking about them only made his headaches worse. Especially because all the memories he did had ended with Maria's death by the government. He grimaced as shook away the sounds of the gunshot resonating through the air and Maria's pained cry coming after it.
'Shadow..."
Shadow's eyes widened as the voice uttered his name. Not just because the voice sent chills down his spine, but because it was a voice he had heard before It was the voice associated with the eye that kept plaging his nightmares. The eye that kept persisting he leave the city to talk. The voice that was distorted naturally, heavy with age yet dripping with aggression and hate. As Shadow was reaching for his gun, something rustled and appeared in front of him. Oh, if he had been ready, the floating object would have been dead on arrival from a well-timed bullet. Shadow still held the gun towards it, the black and red tentacled eye that pulse-swam towards him like a jellyfish. It's pupil was slit like a snake, the iris a pulsating red against a veined-yellow white. Black and red...just like him.
"Who are you?" Shadow demanded, "and how do you know my name?"
'You don't remember anything, do you?"
Shadow said nothing in response. The things on his tongue were more questions that would only go unanswered or answered in vague riddles. He remembered pieces, but nothing was fitting. Absolutely nothing was fitting. He had run over multiple scenarios, talked to so many people. The one person with potential to help him was afraid of hurting him. Instead, he clicked his gun, pointing it hard at the eye.
"I know you've been picking in my mind, so stop this 'mystery-mage' bullshit," he growled. "Talk. Clearly. Now."
The eye's disembodied voice hesitated for a bit. If there were an eyebrow to arch, it would have gone up. "Very well" It sighed. 'Follow me as I have followed you...""
'Last time I followed you, you disappeared," Shadow huffed. Now the voice was beginning to ring a bell. This was the voice that tempted him with the promises of his past. The one who had led him to find several unmarked graves near Maria's in Laveau Cemetery. Aqua had been left in the dust because he was following a lead that, now, he didn't even trust. 'And that's not being clear!"
'Drop that foolish human weapon. I know just as well as you do your...abilities"
Shadow glared at the eye, who was seeming to glare back at him. Whatever this thing was, it knew a lot more than he pictured. His hand went to the trigger, one finger close to just pushing it, sending a bullet down. But at the same time, a chaos spear would be much more beneficial in cooking this thing to bits if it ended up being a lie. Byt what if this thing was trying to manipulate him? Demons twisted almost everything that was aid and could be vomited back out to hurt whoever was a threat to them. An annoyance pumped through his blood and he shot the gun back upward, tightening the grip. He clicked the safety and the finger went back over the trigger. "I don't take orders from people I don't trust. Then again, I don't take orders from anyone." Not even the commissioner. All the things Shadow did that was outside the law he stayed quiet about.
'It seems you don't see who you are defying."
Well, duh, Shadow thought to himself. It could be someone with good cinematography skills. Shadow fired his gun. If he could shut this thing up, he could actually get some decent sleep. The bullet went through the air...but it didn't pierce the body. Worse of all, it was an emerald bullet. The shot gleamed bright green after it was fired. The streak went straight, but before it could hit the slit bullseye, it found a new target.
The back of an innocent girl, who's cry Shadow couldn't forget.
"MARIA!"
Gasping for breath, Maria toppled to the ground, her back still to him. Her dress, a pale blue, was turning red from the blood pouring from her injury. Shadow threw the gun to the side, gliding over to try and catch her from falling on her face. He felt the warmth of her blood sticking to him as he cradled her gently. He was at a loss for words. Maria was dying, again, but this time he was physically there to hold her...after he had been the cause of her death.
'It's okay, Maria," he said, emotion betraying his supposed calm demeanor. "I've...I've got you. It's going to be okay."
"Shadow...you...I want you to..."
"Yes, Maria, I know. I made a promise to you. I said I'd keep..."
But as he turned Maria to face him, so he could look at her one last time, one last moment before she had faded away, his eyes widened. It wasn't Maria he was holding, who was shot in the back by his own bullet, bleeding all over his hands.
It was Sunshine.
"Rachel! Oh my God, Rachel!" Shadow wasn't even bothering to call Sunshine by her nickname at this point. She was fading. He had finally confessed to someone, a burglar, that he had developed feelings for his partner. Feelings that he should have told her while he was still full of Sapien and living a life he had wanted to have with her. He was never going to get the chance. She was turning cold, her green eyes become dull. A hand reached for his, her fingers becoming stained with blood as he held them.
"I want you to take off your rings," she murmured weakly. "You've had them on all the times we worked together. I.." she started coughing again.
'Sunshine, no, this can't be happening, this can't be..."
Searing pain at his wrists cut him off. It was like someone had coiled hot iron all through his wrists. He cried out in pain, kneeling to try and think of something other than the pain. Tears were filling his eyes as he shut them tight. But in that darkness, he just saw the image of him running with Maria's hand in his, and the gunshot that knocked her out; he saw Sunshine tied up and having Jasmine leer at her with a hungry smile while he was pounding angrily at an invisble wall; he saw Yang and her kids hiding in a dark room while their old home was burned by a smiling Frollo...then everything was flooded in blackness.
The pain in his hands was replaced by something completely new. Shadow didn't know what it was, but he was...kind of liking the pulse in his hands. There was a sort of relaxing sensation of it pulsing back and forth. But instead of the spiciness of Bellerouge's out city air, he smelled something richer in ozone. His entire body felt suspended in the air. The blackness faded away, and Shadow's vision was coated entirely in...
Red.
Staring at him, side by side, were two figures. One he had a vague guess to who he was. Balding head, handlebar mustache, and spectacles tucked into his lab coat to replace a pair he had on. The second figure was of complete mystery. It wore heavy, black robes encrusted with jewel shards. The hands were large and taloned. In place of a face, there was just a knob of wrinkled black skin, the same skin on the hands. But in the center of the knob...was the eye.
""Remember our deal, Professor Gerald..."
"Yes..." the professor answered, looking at Shadow's direction. "He is the ultimate creature...he'll find you when he's ready..."
Ready? Ready for what? Shadow lifted a hand, but in the strange liquid, which felt like jell-o mixed with cola, he saw his inhibitor rings were gone. But...what was...?
The red filter in Shadow's vision faded, as did the professor and the creepy creature, replaced now by the sky of Bellerouge. But now, outside the perimeters, he wasn't alone. Standing behind him were creatures that looked...familiar. And not just because Shadow fought them in the Black War. Up close, he saw they had the same black skin as the demonic beast hovering next to them, riding what looked like a spiked dinosaur who, was coincidently, also red and black.
"The finest legions of Hell. Note that they are black and crimson, just like you" the creature nodded to the bizzare army. "Thanks to you, Shadow, you have allowed us to enter the realm of the humans. We can now accomplish out goal of bringing order and justice. These humans, they understand nothing of a perfect order. They have let greed and power-struggles lead them to a path of destruction..."
"What are you talking about?" Shadow asked. "Are these homounculuses too? Like me?"
The creepy demon laughed. It was...not exactly a pleasant sound. "On the contrary, they are my offspring. But you, you are the ultimate creation. The humans feared you and wanted to destroy you. You escaped by your own cunning. Bu you were hindered in your quest for salvation. Do you know who this is? He is the one who stole your memories. He stole them out of jealousy, knowing he could never have what you did. If he couldn't have them, no one could..."
In a swirl of red and black, Shadow saw a clear image. In the light, he saw the pointed nose and pale skin. The figure wore nothing but black. The only thing that wasn't black were the glowing golden eyes.
"Pitch..." Hatred resounded in Shadow's voice. All this time, the answers he had been asking for so long were right in front of him. His hand clenched, the inhibitor ring free wrist crackling. His black fur was seeming to get brighter. Electric currents were being shot out, even some of the demons ran away in fear. Shadow lifted a hand, seeing his fur had turned completely bright red. It was pusling, coursing with power. He threw his hand down. Four chaos spears were shot forward, blowing up trees and rocks.
"Yes. Unleash your ultimate wrath. He had what you wanted all this time, selfishly garnering it. Take what is rightfully yours!"
Shadow didn't know if the demon hoardes had disappeared or not as he walked away from the forest edge. All that mattered to him was getting back at...not just Pitch, but everyone who had ever crossed him. Humanity would pay. Pay with their lives for Maria's death, for Sunshine's capture and potential rape, for Yang nearly being killed.
Everyone would face the wrath of the ultimate life form.
He shook his head violently. There he went again, trying to pick up pieces of his past. Thinking about them only made his headaches worse. Especially because all the memories he did had ended with Maria's death by the government. He grimaced as shook away the sounds of the gunshot resonating through the air and Maria's pained cry coming after it.
'Shadow..."
Shadow's eyes widened as the voice uttered his name. Not just because the voice sent chills down his spine, but because it was a voice he had heard before It was the voice associated with the eye that kept plaging his nightmares. The eye that kept persisting he leave the city to talk. The voice that was distorted naturally, heavy with age yet dripping with aggression and hate. As Shadow was reaching for his gun, something rustled and appeared in front of him. Oh, if he had been ready, the floating object would have been dead on arrival from a well-timed bullet. Shadow still held the gun towards it, the black and red tentacled eye that pulse-swam towards him like a jellyfish. It's pupil was slit like a snake, the iris a pulsating red against a veined-yellow white. Black and red...just like him.
"Who are you?" Shadow demanded, "and how do you know my name?"
'You don't remember anything, do you?"
Shadow said nothing in response. The things on his tongue were more questions that would only go unanswered or answered in vague riddles. He remembered pieces, but nothing was fitting. Absolutely nothing was fitting. He had run over multiple scenarios, talked to so many people. The one person with potential to help him was afraid of hurting him. Instead, he clicked his gun, pointing it hard at the eye.
"I know you've been picking in my mind, so stop this 'mystery-mage' bullshit," he growled. "Talk. Clearly. Now."
The eye's disembodied voice hesitated for a bit. If there were an eyebrow to arch, it would have gone up. "Very well" It sighed. 'Follow me as I have followed you...""
'Last time I followed you, you disappeared," Shadow huffed. Now the voice was beginning to ring a bell. This was the voice that tempted him with the promises of his past. The one who had led him to find several unmarked graves near Maria's in Laveau Cemetery. Aqua had been left in the dust because he was following a lead that, now, he didn't even trust. 'And that's not being clear!"
'Drop that foolish human weapon. I know just as well as you do your...abilities"
Shadow glared at the eye, who was seeming to glare back at him. Whatever this thing was, it knew a lot more than he pictured. His hand went to the trigger, one finger close to just pushing it, sending a bullet down. But at the same time, a chaos spear would be much more beneficial in cooking this thing to bits if it ended up being a lie. Byt what if this thing was trying to manipulate him? Demons twisted almost everything that was aid and could be vomited back out to hurt whoever was a threat to them. An annoyance pumped through his blood and he shot the gun back upward, tightening the grip. He clicked the safety and the finger went back over the trigger. "I don't take orders from people I don't trust. Then again, I don't take orders from anyone." Not even the commissioner. All the things Shadow did that was outside the law he stayed quiet about.
'It seems you don't see who you are defying."
Well, duh, Shadow thought to himself. It could be someone with good cinematography skills. Shadow fired his gun. If he could shut this thing up, he could actually get some decent sleep. The bullet went through the air...but it didn't pierce the body. Worse of all, it was an emerald bullet. The shot gleamed bright green after it was fired. The streak went straight, but before it could hit the slit bullseye, it found a new target.
The back of an innocent girl, who's cry Shadow couldn't forget.
"MARIA!"
Gasping for breath, Maria toppled to the ground, her back still to him. Her dress, a pale blue, was turning red from the blood pouring from her injury. Shadow threw the gun to the side, gliding over to try and catch her from falling on her face. He felt the warmth of her blood sticking to him as he cradled her gently. He was at a loss for words. Maria was dying, again, but this time he was physically there to hold her...after he had been the cause of her death.
'It's okay, Maria," he said, emotion betraying his supposed calm demeanor. "I've...I've got you. It's going to be okay."
"Shadow...you...I want you to..."
"Yes, Maria, I know. I made a promise to you. I said I'd keep..."
But as he turned Maria to face him, so he could look at her one last time, one last moment before she had faded away, his eyes widened. It wasn't Maria he was holding, who was shot in the back by his own bullet, bleeding all over his hands.
It was Sunshine.
"Rachel! Oh my God, Rachel!" Shadow wasn't even bothering to call Sunshine by her nickname at this point. She was fading. He had finally confessed to someone, a burglar, that he had developed feelings for his partner. Feelings that he should have told her while he was still full of Sapien and living a life he had wanted to have with her. He was never going to get the chance. She was turning cold, her green eyes become dull. A hand reached for his, her fingers becoming stained with blood as he held them.
"I want you to take off your rings," she murmured weakly. "You've had them on all the times we worked together. I.." she started coughing again.
'Sunshine, no, this can't be happening, this can't be..."
Searing pain at his wrists cut him off. It was like someone had coiled hot iron all through his wrists. He cried out in pain, kneeling to try and think of something other than the pain. Tears were filling his eyes as he shut them tight. But in that darkness, he just saw the image of him running with Maria's hand in his, and the gunshot that knocked her out; he saw Sunshine tied up and having Jasmine leer at her with a hungry smile while he was pounding angrily at an invisble wall; he saw Yang and her kids hiding in a dark room while their old home was burned by a smiling Frollo...then everything was flooded in blackness.
The pain in his hands was replaced by something completely new. Shadow didn't know what it was, but he was...kind of liking the pulse in his hands. There was a sort of relaxing sensation of it pulsing back and forth. But instead of the spiciness of Bellerouge's out city air, he smelled something richer in ozone. His entire body felt suspended in the air. The blackness faded away, and Shadow's vision was coated entirely in...
Red.
Staring at him, side by side, were two figures. One he had a vague guess to who he was. Balding head, handlebar mustache, and spectacles tucked into his lab coat to replace a pair he had on. The second figure was of complete mystery. It wore heavy, black robes encrusted with jewel shards. The hands were large and taloned. In place of a face, there was just a knob of wrinkled black skin, the same skin on the hands. But in the center of the knob...was the eye.
""Remember our deal, Professor Gerald..."
"Yes..." the professor answered, looking at Shadow's direction. "He is the ultimate creature...he'll find you when he's ready..."
Ready? Ready for what? Shadow lifted a hand, but in the strange liquid, which felt like jell-o mixed with cola, he saw his inhibitor rings were gone. But...what was...?
The red filter in Shadow's vision faded, as did the professor and the creepy creature, replaced now by the sky of Bellerouge. But now, outside the perimeters, he wasn't alone. Standing behind him were creatures that looked...familiar. And not just because Shadow fought them in the Black War. Up close, he saw they had the same black skin as the demonic beast hovering next to them, riding what looked like a spiked dinosaur who, was coincidently, also red and black.
"The finest legions of Hell. Note that they are black and crimson, just like you" the creature nodded to the bizzare army. "Thanks to you, Shadow, you have allowed us to enter the realm of the humans. We can now accomplish out goal of bringing order and justice. These humans, they understand nothing of a perfect order. They have let greed and power-struggles lead them to a path of destruction..."
"What are you talking about?" Shadow asked. "Are these homounculuses too? Like me?"
The creepy demon laughed. It was...not exactly a pleasant sound. "On the contrary, they are my offspring. But you, you are the ultimate creation. The humans feared you and wanted to destroy you. You escaped by your own cunning. Bu you were hindered in your quest for salvation. Do you know who this is? He is the one who stole your memories. He stole them out of jealousy, knowing he could never have what you did. If he couldn't have them, no one could..."
In a swirl of red and black, Shadow saw a clear image. In the light, he saw the pointed nose and pale skin. The figure wore nothing but black. The only thing that wasn't black were the glowing golden eyes.
"Pitch..." Hatred resounded in Shadow's voice. All this time, the answers he had been asking for so long were right in front of him. His hand clenched, the inhibitor ring free wrist crackling. His black fur was seeming to get brighter. Electric currents were being shot out, even some of the demons ran away in fear. Shadow lifted a hand, seeing his fur had turned completely bright red. It was pusling, coursing with power. He threw his hand down. Four chaos spears were shot forward, blowing up trees and rocks.
"Yes. Unleash your ultimate wrath. He had what you wanted all this time, selfishly garnering it. Take what is rightfully yours!"
Shadow didn't know if the demon hoardes had disappeared or not as he walked away from the forest edge. All that mattered to him was getting back at...not just Pitch, but everyone who had ever crossed him. Humanity would pay. Pay with their lives for Maria's death, for Sunshine's capture and potential rape, for Yang nearly being killed.
Everyone would face the wrath of the ultimate life form.