The Eden Projects (EDITING)

Chapter 44. Dismal-land.

- Kasper - 

"Help him." Kasper sunk down, holding onto his leg. Spilling his toxic blood into the water around them. He grimaced, ripping the bullet out in a fizzing white blob. Then he worked at his shoulder, where the second bullet sat.

Ace, looked vile. His wings were bristled and scales had found their way up and down his arms. The blood was bothering him like it never had before, and Kasper wondered if it was because of that night. Ace was positioned under the ladder. "Fog, the vials."

Within a moments breath a bag was dropped down. He busied putting together the rig.

"I'll kill you." Kasper shouted. "You hear me?"

Ace ignored him. His nimble fingers working to spin the tube into place quickly.

"HEY-" Kasper splashed water at him, His wing twitched, blocking the rain.

"Yeah I hear you-" He moved to Zak and found his neck under his mess of curls. "-Frankly, I don't care. Do what you want."

Two skeletal wings protruded like black masses from Zak's back, they twitched and ebbed as he breathed. "-unfortunately for you-" He flicked the vial. "-or fortunately for me. If you kill me, you'll kill Zak as well. You may not need me, but he does, AND he knows I'm good for you. You sealed this yourself."

Kasper had moved on to the final bullet, every now and again he grimaced, or shook his head, eyes flitting around the room. "You aren't good for anybody." What he could see was lost between them.

Ace only glanced at him. "But I don't lie. You can agree to that." He pushed the needle in.

"Truth doesn't matter when you're a snake." 

"Oh it does." There was silence between them as Ace pulled out his knife, cutting two slits down Zak's back. He grabbed and pulled at the wings as they began to move and push themselves out. It was all quiet except for the grinding of bones as they built up and settled into their new homes. His freshly formed muscles anchoring them down. Zak's posture changed. Kasper could see it from where he laid, his shoulders and chest rising and righting themselves.

"You proved your point a long time ago."

Kasper gritted.

If it was one thing Ace was, on all things that regarded person(s) other than himself, he was honest. "What is this, we had the depressed quiet version, the repressed and confused one, and now this, a manic."

"I'm not manic." 

Ace's brow raised. "You have a voice now, better than that pathetic cowering dog you were with Archer around. He must have been your moral clock huh. A thank-you for cutting that tether would be nice." He tugged one last time. and the second wing locked into place. "I never liked him anyway, you didn't either did you." Webbing had begun to grow between the fingers of the fleshy supports and Ace sat, rubbing Zak's back. Slowly, small feathers prickled along each shoulder. His breath hitched and caught when the larger feathers began to grow. It was all so forceful, like the protrusions were a creature of its own, unwillingly stuck to Zak and clawing to break free.

He held his breath. "I could have tried to find him. Gone back- done things differently." Kasper's brain flitted over his terrible judgement calls and violent nights he had spent under constant excuses. Even if he did manage to help Zero, he wasn't the same anymore. He was a murderous thing, and Zero he thought, was not.

"You couldn't have done anything. If Ark has him, there's nothing anyone can do." Ace slowed his rub; fuzzy tendrils began to close the wounds around Zak's new limbs. "What I was trying to tell you was that I didn't know for sure if it even was him. The only time I ever saw you two together was in passing. My memory may be good, but I'm not that good." He dipped his hands in the water, rinsing the blood from them.