Hush

Jack: The children in the wall and their revenge.

It was quick, but still it was painful. Jack felt the full force of the scythe cut through his friend, and in the same instant, Zephen let out a blood curdling shriek, unlike Hush, his death hadn't been quick. As Nygn maintained the eye contact that paralysed him, Jack watched as the monster that had once been his dad could do nothing but wither in place in agony, he watched as the scythe blade that did a quick job on Hush's neck slowly seared through Zephen's neck, slowly through the muscles and the tendons. And as the slow decapitation took place, the darkness within him that was left seeped out into nothingness, too weak to find another host, it left the Shadow Master's body like black hissing smoke as he cursed and screamed, his faced twisted in pain, as Nygn kept him hostage on his knees.

'The damned children in the wall,' Nygn said to him, 'wish to give you a warm farewell.' He stepped back. 'It was after all you who imprisoned them in this place. They were never made for this realm, but you punished them and kept them anyway.'

Zephen swore in response through gritted teeth. 'You can't save them.' He let a bitter smile spread across his face.

'You're wrong,' Nygn replied quietly, 'once I allow them to have their revenge on you, their souls will once again be pure, and it was always my job as a reaper to ensure they are taken care of after their death, and to take them to the creators to be reborn.'

Zephen gasped as blood began to leak from his mouth. He turned to Jack. 'You know the rules don't you kid?' He laughed, seeing Jack clueless. 'Oh boy, you got screwed over.' He coughed and spat blood, and let out another pained guttural gasp, panting he spoke quickly so as not to choke on the pool of blood in his mouth. 'Whoever kills the ruler of Requirden becomes the new ruler, never to return to your London hovel again.' He laughed, and choked and the smile on his face faltered as his skin began to melt from his face.

Jack looked at Nygn in disbelief. 'Is, is that true?' He asked quietly.

Nygn nodded, 'I will explain everything to you, now say your farewell it's nearly time, you killed him, this is just his lingering darkness keeping him alive.'

Jack stared at his dad, wondering, if ever any of it was true, remembering the happy times as well as the bad times. 'I have nothing left to say.' He said blankly to Zephen, who looked for a moment full of sadness, before concealing it with a look of disgust.

Jack turned away, leaving Nygn to do what was needed, he heard the walls come alive with excited screams as he made his way towards Hush's corpse and stroked the fur, closing his eyes as the children in the walls scurried past him and towards their target. Zephen let out cries of suffering and pain, but Jack found he really didn't care. The voices that were in his head were silent, and for now he was allowed this moment of grief, and as he comforted himself running his hands through Hush's fur, he could see strands of light just below the skin, flickering and twinkling as though he had been filled with Christmas lights. Jack stopped stroking, as slowly the form of the wolverine melted into the earth, the light from its body seeming to shrink into a singular point, central, and when the corpse of Hush's form finally was gone, in its place sat the true form of Hush. A teddy bear, with ruby demonic like eyes, strangely human like and giving a curious look due to the tilt of his head. Hush sat still and inert as a normal teddy, but the now faint glow of light lingered just a little longer in his chest area before finally fading out.

Jack said nothing, but a smile slowly crept upon his face when he saw his teddy, clean as the day he first held him and unharmed. He picked him up and held him at arms length looking him over and finally pulling him into his chest close.

'You saved me.' He said quietly, 'thank you.' He looked back over his shoulder to where the cries of Zephen had went quiet, the scurrying and rushing of hundreds of footsteps had ceased and all that remained of the man was his bloodied clothes, and standing watching Jack and his teddy, Nygn stood, burly arms folded across his chest, with a steady gaze.