Hell [Sequel]

4 - Dread

[Xyan]

A dagger of horror struck my heart at those simple words. The name rang in my mind, a thousand horrid memories that for the past year I'd been trying to bury deep inside of me. Now all of those memories surged inside of me, pushing to break free, break free, take hold, bury me inside of them, pull me under until I could no longer breathe.

I was too shocked to speak. Too shocked to do much of anything. The room was silent as death, Praxus's words shaking us all to the core.

"I-I... I need some space..." The silence was too heavy. I managed to choke out those words with difficulty and, before Praxus or anyone else could stop me, I quickly fled the room without a word.

-=+=-

[Praxus]

"Xyan, wait-"

Too late. Xyan left silently, not even looking back at me as he quickly floated up the stairs and disappeared. I sighed. Sure, we all hated Gradient. We all feared him. But nothing any of us had been through could compare to Xyan's experience with the psychopath.

"Is he gonna be okay?"

Akhet spoke timidly in my mind. Her terror of Angel was still present, and Gradient added to it certainly wouldn't be helpful, but she worried for her friends more than herself at this point.

"I'll go check on him," I said.

Kaen, who had watched the entire scene, began to stand. "Uh- I can-"

"No," I shot him a sharp glare, forcing him back to his seat. My anger spiked. "Stay here. You don't fully understand what's going on. You don't know what happened here, what happened with that psycho. Don't make this situation worse, Kaen."

Kaen shrunk down, his wings slightly beginning to wrap themselves around himself. The timid spirit seemed shocked and almost terrified at the fury in my voice.

Without apologizing I quickly followed behind Xyan, gliding up the stairs and into the hall that overlooked the living room we sat in.

-=+=-

I found Xyan in our room. He was curled up in a ball, staring off into space with his back against the wall next to the bed. He didn't utter a word, didn't even move as I walked over and sat down next to him.

Silence filled the area as we sat for a few moments before I found the words to speak. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you're not really okay right now?"

Xyan didn't speak for a moment, however after a minute he took a deep breath in and gave a shaky reply:

"No."

I inhaled, expecting this answer. I didn't know what to say, didn't know how to comfort someone who couldn't be comforted. There was no coping from what he'd been through.

Xyan surprised me, however, when he took another shaky breath and began to speak.

"W-when Gradient made me ritualistic... he put me through a torture that I can't even begin to describe." Shimmering memory welled up in his eyes, a single drop of water slowly rolling down his cheek. "Darkness, pain, an endless feeling of pure despair... just thinking about it makes me wanna..."

He took a sharp breath in, exhaling to calm himself before the sentence could end. "What he put me through... I would've prayed to the devil himself to take my soul if it meant that torture would stop, the pain would end. He broke me, broke me into a thousand pieces that no amount of repair could truly fix.

"You... you brought me up from drowning in that darkness." Xyan looked at me. He struggled to hold back tears. "You saved me. And there's nothing I can do to thank you enough for that. But even you can't bring the pieces of me back together. Ever."

I looked to the ground, processing the words he spoke. I wanted to help him, but I feared he was right. I couldn't patch up the holes in his heart, his mind, never patch them up enough to equal the torment he had experienced.

Tears spilled down Xyan's face as he choked. "What's the use? You don't understand. No one does. No one."

I started to speak, but he harshly interjected. "Don't. You're not making this any better. Leave me alone."

"I-"

"Go!" Xyan snapped at me aggressively, teeth clenched behind a waterfall of tears. I flinched back, staring at him for a moment before slowly, slowly, standing up and walking away, glancing at him over my shoulder and disappearing around the corner of the doorway.

-=+=-

Shorter chapter but eh.

765 words