Missing? W@tcher Grian AU

Pain

Eris, Xideon, and Grian watched as the machine booted up and the mask started moving into the machine. Grian couldn't see very well without it, but he saw enough to know what was happening.

He thought about protesting, but figured it was no use. He felt his eyes water and he closed them forcefully for a moment to keep the "tears" from shedding.

    Grian could feel the exact moment his mask was being broken down. It was connected to him, he could feel a part of himself be shredded to a million pieces. He cried out in pain as he firmly gripped his core and the bar next to him, bringing him to his knees.

     The tears he had previously tried to control were unleashed, carving paths down his face and landing on the floor of his cell, exploding in slow motion as he watched them make impact.

    He focused on the tears, and his breathing, trying to tough out the immense pain surging through all parts of his body. His ears started ringing as he felt blood tickle out of them.

    It felt like an organ was being ripped apart within his body. He managed to look up at Eris, despite his vision coming and going. He had stopped focusing on the machine and started watching Grian, amused by his discomfort.

    He started laughing. He could tell from the look on his face. Grian struggled to stay conscious, his already blurry vision closing in on him. Eris did a slow clap, "Wow Xelqua, I don't give you enough credit for your strength, any other Watcher would be out cold by now."

     When the mask was done being grinded down into its simplest form, Grian flopped down on his back in relief.

     He knew it meant he was no longer magically connected to any mask, making him really weak, but he didn't care, he was free of that excruciating feeling.

He knew he only had a matter of minutes before his life falls apart, but for some reason it felt good. He was technically, by default, no longer a Watcher.

He looked at his hand, struggling to stay awake. He waved his hand around, flexed his fingers, the motion was numb with no feeling.

His eyes traveled from the tips of his fingernails to his wrists, down his forearm, to his elbow. He leaned forward a bit to take in the rest of his body.

He felt the corners of his mouth twitch, he actually smiled. A genuine smile was something he hadn't known since the "accident" at the rift, but he couldn't help it.

Maybe he was delirious, crazy even, to smile at such a time, when he was captured and about to suffer for it.

He slid his hand down his torso, the other holding him up, keeping him from lying flat.
He felt the soft, familiar fabric of his red sweater. He missed it so much, he ran his fingers across his wings, the feathers had returned to their beautiful array of reds, blues, and yellows.

He let his hand fall limp again as he rested back on the floor, his other hand ran across his stomach. He stared at the ceiling in awe. For the first time in a long time, he didn't feel like a danger, something people should fear.

That feeling didn't last long, he was immediately pulled out of his state of euphoria the moment he heard Eris speak, he couldn't make out the words he was saying, but the tone was as smug as ever.

The ringing in his ear stopped after Eris got past a few sentences. His vision started to clear up the longer he looked, the Watcher part of him fading more and more.

    ".....Get to watch you go through it all over again." Eris finished. Grian blinked a few times, cocked his head to the side, and his vision focused just enough to see Eris holding his mask, which had turned black, stained with magic.