All My Favorite Monsters

Apology

[Inferno]

I wanted to move, needed to move, but my body stayed in place no matter how hard I tried. My physical expression didn't change. I was sitting cross-legged on the ground, my tentacles at my sides, my tail curled into my lap. I stared into the open black void in front of me, blank.

Is this how Addie feels when I take control? I should give her freedom more often.

I finally sighed in exasperation and relaxed. There was no getting out of this. I wanted to save the others, but I couldn't when I was floating in an empty husk.

White fur was visible at the edge of my vision. Xirox. Or Prismarine. Whatever his actual name was. I think he was staring at me, but I couldn't fully see him. If I could move, I'd strangle him, burn him, find every way possible to give him a slow, agonizing death. I had trusted him. And he betrayed me.

Prismarine moved. He was walking towards me. He stopped when he was in front of me, sitting down on his knees. His tail wrapped around his legs.

"Hey, Inferno," he sighed.

I growled, "Get the hell away from me."

But my mouth remained sealed, my vocal chords silent.

Prismarine scratched the back of his neck. "Right. You probably can't hear me."

I can hear you just as well as if I was hearing your screams as I kill you, I thought.

He cleared his throat. "If you can though... I just wanted to apologize."

Apologize? Really? That's the BEST you can do?

"I understand you'll never forgive me for this," he continued, "And I get that. I don't care if you forgive me. I just wanted to tell you why I did this."

Oh, don't give me your little sob story.

But he did. "One moment I was chatting with you. You as Cinder, not Inferno. As my sister."

I remained in surprised silence. This pathetic angel-wolf glitchy thing was my sibling?

"And then, I started disappearing. You just... just watched. Like there was nothing happening. I was screaming at you to help, but you still just watched. Then I was here. I thought you didn't care, didn't care that I faded away.

"Then I met Crescent. She found me, promised me that we would go back. Go back to the Underground. I could join her if I helped her complete that goal and kill the Creator. So I said yes. Eventually I was redesigned, brought back through Baroque, and... here we are."

I stared at him, shocked. I still wanted to strangle him. Yet somehow I wanted to do it less now.

Prismarine stared back for a long moment before growling to himself. "Oh, what am I doing, you can't hear me. And if you can, you don't care."

I watched as much as I could as he stood and walked away, his white-black glitching tail lashing angrily behind him.

----

[Styrmir]

My ragged breathing was heavy as I lay limply on the ground. My skull felt like it had been cracked and split a million times. Blood spilled from the still-open wound. My vision was spinning, black spots danced on the edges.

The animatronic twirled the clarinet in his hands. It still dripped with my blood. His discorded voice made my head pound.

"Go Od l ITtle clouD," Pastel grinned, mocking my helplessness. "Ve Ry goO d."