The Weight of Exhaustion

Chapter Twelve: The Dark Plan

Corruption did not know how to exactly feel about Soulless.

Well, he also didn't know exactly how to feel emotions in general half the time, but that wasn't the main issue. He could act logic all he wants to spread the darkness even further, but he couldn't logic out his emotions. It was easier to push what he feels off to the side and face the issue with pure logic. One plus one equals two and all that. Emotions were messy and never made sense.

Corruption knew it was logical that to spread the darkness farther and faster than before, having strong people was the best idea. The more people working for them and with them, the closer their goal is. Total darkness. Where everyone is One and there is no fighting, no pain.

Corruption...just wasn't sure how logical having Soulless on their team was. Obviously, Soulless was quite powerful, judging by the scraps of books Void managed to scavenge around. Especially since Void wouldn't waste time to free someone —something?— that would be a dead weight. Corruption was in the process of reading those books when he was in the mood to actually read, but Void didn't exaggerate how strong Soulless was.

That still didn't help the unease that crept into his bones each time they were in the same room. He doesn't even need to see Soulless to feel his presence. The flight or fight kicking in, making all his hairs stand on end. That still didn't compare to the unease that slammed into him the moment Corruption actually met the...person? Thing? Whatever Soulless was.

Soulless was sealed away for a reason, so allowing them to roam once more seemed...not a logical idea. Especially since they knew Soulless came from the Human's world, and they banished him for a reason. So Void unleashing this thing that neither Human or Steve wanted to deal with didn't fill him with confidence.

Except, Void's plans always, no matter how insane they seem, ended up working quite well. Half the time the plans seemed off the wall, yet they almost always worked.

Corruption could remember Void announcing one day over breakfast that he had a plan to corrupt Sabre of all people, and Corruption thinking quite clearly that it was not going to work. Soul thought so too. Corruption could remember his incredulous look he gave Void, fork frozen halfway to his mouth.

Corruption hummed, his thoughts turning to that time, and the major news Soulless ended up dropping on them.

Shadow Sabre was quite...different...putting it nicely. Corruption snorted to himself, leaning back as he tied in the next wither rose into the wither rose crown he was making.

The roses that coated his desk were bright red, yet it only took a small portion of darkness being pushed into them to turn them black as night. Even better yet, the corrupted flowers withered other plants. Useful knowledge that could be used some time in the future.

Since the roses withered the other roses, he gave the corrupted flowers a new name. Wither Roses. Not creative, but it got the message across.

The darkness he had with him in his room seemed interested in the whole process. Corruption rolled his eyes. It's like it knew it was for them. Then again...this one was showing more sentience than the others, so maybe it did.

He had an inkling for a while now that this one was different from the rest, but after he seen it trying to hold a conversation with another, less sentient darkness, he decided it was best to make it stand out from the rest.

So, flower crown. It was the best he could do in the little time he had, but he needed the others to not accidentally send this one out on a mission.

It was extremely rare for something of pure darkness to gain proper sentience. Usually the darkness needed to root itself into something, like the countless Steves they showed the proper path too. Like Soul, like Void, like Shadow-