Believe in Me

Taunting

((Sorry in advanced for this chapter, thank you for reading and have a good night.)) 

If he were given the ability to just drop and die like he should've hundreds of years ago, Grey would choose to do so now. What was holding him back? Not Ilia, he had hurt her too much.. and going back to the guardians (if he could even get out of this hellhole) would be even more dangerous than just putting himself at risk here. He was unstable, Chaos was gaining power and his mind kept fading in and out of his main conciousness.. losing control. The whole situation was bitter. He was locked up, even if he wasn't he'd be shreading things to pieces against his will, Ilia was hurt, Jack was hurt, he was weakened, and he couldn't even do his job anymore, the thing he was BORN to do. Within just a few months or even less of a reaperless world, all hell would break loose.. and Pitch was right. It was all because he had the stupidity to think that he'd be accepted back to just con the nightmare king again. Whatever pain he got here he would endure fine, even be calmed by it. It would be like a punishment.. a pain deserved. But no, Pitch and Chaos had even estimated how he would think on that. There was no physical pain, they knew full well that even if they beat him ten times over, they wouldn't get as much of a result as if they left him alone to poison himself silently with the crushing weight of his own guilt.. He shifted slightly and even his own body showed its frustration towards him, making his movements feel heavy, strained. His own face screamed out the pain that he was trying to hide.. he couldn't even keep a secret from himself. Grey Loss, the grim reaper, powerful death.. crushed so easily. This thought shreaded him even further and he couldn't help but close his fist tight enough to push into the bone in his palm but he didn't care. Honestly he would rather have hurt than have to think.. pain was a distraction. And no matter what kind.. he NEEDED a distraction to keep himself from screaming.

How did he get so emotional all of the sudden?! One minute he wouldn't have cared, he would've been composed, everything would've been fine! But the guardians broke into his wall, they made him feel safe and safety meant security.. security meant carelessness and carelessness meant being locked in a glass crate while everyone suffers at your hand. He knew it from the start.. Ilia was fine, she was an exception. Caring for her never got in his way, she hadn't ever gotten herself in any trouble she couldn't get out of until Pitch showed up. She could fend for herself, brought him up more than she brought him down.. he couldn't say that about the guardians though. One person to care about was pushing it. Adding Jack, the rest of the guardians he couldn't have helped but open his stone hard but still hopefully lonely heart to..? It ruined him. With his job, his life, he had to be heartless. He couldn't show that he cared and to do that, he just couldn't care in general. Before, Ilia was the only exception. If he had seen someone dying, he wouldn't try to stop it. He would watch and wait with little care until they fell from their life, then carry them to heaven with the proper respect they deserved. He'd leave them at the gate without so much of a word then go back to the world again.. all without tears. Without much feeling. He wasn't happy, how could he be? Happiness didn't come to the bringer of tears, the grim reaper. It was a blessing that hit even Pitch Black but avoided him.. at least until Ilia came along. Now though.. now he was none of that. If someone innocent were dying he would feel it. Already he could feel it in his chest, the call that he got by impulse that people were dying. A female in China, a dog in California, an elderly couple in France..  he wondered to the confusion people felt when the dead lived on. He was never told how someone died, his mind only updated him on the gender, age, and location so he could get there fast and be prepared for the soul's reaction. He had gotten so used to it over the years it was like a television in the background, his subconcious. Now it was blaring in the front of his head.. death after death, deaths that were somehow not dying. He didn't care that he would lose believers, he never cared about that. Any believer he had other than a muderer of some sort hated him, it was better off without.. he felt himself involentarily clawing at his skin, the sudden sting as his strong grip clawed into the flesh jolted him to look down.. blood ran between his fingers. That was another thing he had gotten used to.. he wasnt exactly gentle with himself. Why would he be if he couldnt get hurt in the first place? But his scythe was gone which meant he could feel pain.. and despite how much he had hoped, the pain didnt resolve anything. The thoughts still rushed through his head like a torrent, dead child, dead family, dead animal... they were all suffering because of him and it had only been an hour. 

Slam. He didn't look up. It didn't matter who was coming into the room, whoever it was was just there to mock him. He was angry, he was frustrated.. and that anger and frustration rose even more each time he realized that he was getting his feelings back. But after a few seconds, Grey realized there was no voice.. no Chaos to sneer at him, no Pitch scowling down at him. His head raised to the only other one in the lair.. the wind spirit. Despite the slight confusion he felt, Death kept his face blank as he looked up at the spirit. He wasn't going to show emotion.. maybe he could fix himself, compose himself, then find a way out once his mind was more focus on the problem than the panic mode he had sent himself into. They stared at each other in dead silence for a while, the boy's eyes like the sky.. they were so light, so beautiful but slightly nerving. After a few seconds he sat down criss cross in front of Grey's prison, lifting his finger up to the horribly strong glass and tracing it down the surface. What was he doing..? the reaper wondered but realized soon that trailing the pre-teen's finger was a small run of mist, fogging the glass just in that specific spot.. he was writing. ‘Is Jack okay?’ The reaper looked down and gave a small nod, though his hopes weren’t too high. Jack was just fine.. wasn’t he? Honestly Death didn’t know at this point. He wasn’t sure how long  he had been gone or what was going on in the outer world.. The boy seemed to believe it though, standing and turning to walk out. Grey hadn’t really had his hopes up to get out but it was still sort of disheartening as the wind spirit left the room without anything else but that simple question. Still.. there were bigger things to worry about.

The door opened again but the cackling laugh signified  who it was before the first foot even entered the room. He immidiatally turned away, facing the other direction. He wanted to be alone.. no.. that wasn’t entirely true. He wanted to reverse time, go back to Ilia, Jack.. seemed like he was that weak as well. The spirit of reality.. now he was starting to live up to his name. It was even worse than before. “Silly Grey.. I can still see you,”

“Leave.” It was an order but he knew full well Chaos wouldn’t listen. Still his voice held strength along with anger.. he had been humiliated into showing his sadness to the two who would cherish it the most. That wasn’t going to happen again.. no matter what it took.. he refused to give in to the two evil men. “Too bad, I was just gonna tell you that the king is willing to release you.” This drew Grey’s attention but the raven haired man still didn’t look up, keeping his glance firmly on the wall on the other side of the glass barrier, waiting for the sadistic spirit to continue on. “What, you don’t want out? Aw.. how sweet. We’ve finally got you trained, is that it?” No response. “Wonder what little sweet Ilia will think when she finds out that you’ve turned more animal than human.. looks like beasts can be trained after all.”

“….”

“Or I could just bring her in and let her join the party with you.” This drew an action, Grey standing quickly in the glass tube that was just tall enough for his head to be a few inches from touching the ceiling of it. He turned back to Chaos but instead of the blank but intimidating glare he usually gave.. his face held all the fury he could stand. He couldn’t hold it back anymore, his teeth clenched tightly like that of a snarling canine’s, eyes literally glowing the color of blood. Chaos had done all of this.. Chaos and  Pitch. Pitch beat Ilia, him, and Jack, haunted all of them with nightmares, tortured children with their fears and started this whole issue in the first place. And now Chaos had this madness running, humans were turning into living zombies in a way. It was NOT because of him, it was because of them.. and they weren’t going to get out of it so easily. They hurt his little sister.. the only one who ever cared about him up until Jack came along and even he had his doubts. Chaos looked scared for a second even, stopping in the beginning of a new mocking sentence to study the effect of Death’s anger.. before Grey coughed and fell to one knee. This drew a relieved smile from his captor. His vision started to blur again, head raising to glare up at Chaos with the fullest of hatred he could muster. His heart felt like it was being stabbed again, it was getting harder to breathe.. this was a warning. If it was an actual transformation, it wouldn’t have dragged out. “I’m going to get payback for what you did to me.. revenge is something I’m quite fond of. And you’re going to feel the full intensity of it.. I’ll burn this world to pieces just to watch you suffer over the ashes if I have to.. and you cant stop me.” Chaos then stood and turned, gliding out of the room angrily. 

“…watch me.”