SO BAD [MXM] [MAFIA] ✓

39: BUTCHER

TW: BLOOD/GORE

-

The next few minutes are absolutely horrifying, and Skylar's hallucinations are only to blame for part of it.

This is because, as per usual, he has no way of telling what he hallucinates and what he doesn't. He knows that Crimson gets off of him without another second of hesitation, and he's only positive of that because the guy was previously on top of him. So, he can feel the change in pressure.

Everything else is up for debate. At least, until he gets some clarity. Assuming he makes it out of this, that probably won't be until much later, unfortunately.

Skylar lies on the floor for a few more seconds, noises around him fading together as he begins to feel even more disoriented. Wow, Crimson distracted him so much he didn't even realize how bad his withdrawal was getting.

Ashton is definitely here, but he's turning into more and more of a monster with each passing second. He's walking towards Crimson, who appears to be scrambling around on his person. Presumably to find his gun?

"He has a gun," Skylar notifies Ash, voice sounding strange even to his own ears. Before he can attempt to gauge Ash's reaction, he feels a pressure on his arm. Skylar jumps, looking up to see who is grabbing him, and finds Nina. Or at least, he's pretty sure it's Nina. She's covered in black goo and appears to be melting, but her general facial structure is similar.

"Come on, let's get you out of here." She says, pulling him until he begins to cooperate and gets to his feet. Honestly, Crimson didn't injure him that badly. Not like Skylar is used to, at least. This is nothing compared to what he had to deal with last time.

Skylar looks back at Ashton, and finds him standing in front of Crimson, who appears terrified. Again, the entire situation is quite difficult to gauge, considering his eyes aren't particularly reliable right now. Ash is holding a gun, probably the one he used to shoot Crimson in the hand just now, but he's also got another weapon on his person. It's a knife—a really big one, almost large enough to be considered a machete—and it appears to be attached to something on his hip, in a little holder.

Ashton is talking to Crimson, and Crimson is talking back, but Skylar has no hope of understanding them. All he knows is that Crimson looks terrified and his gun is lying on the floor across the room. He's shaking, and as Nina begins to drag Skylar out of the apartment, Skylar sees Ashton take out one of Crimson's knees, resulting in him falling to the ground.

Ash then kneels over Crimson, reaching for the knife Skylar had taken note of just now. Skylar sees him raise it, then bring it down, but it's not a killing shot, like Skylar expected.

No, it's directed at Crimson's arm. Skylar sees black ink start going all over the place, originating from said arm, and Skylar tries to figure out why Ash didn't kill him. Why is he taking his time? Stabbing someone in the arm will not kill them unless they bleed out.

At this point, Skylar's made peace with Ash committing murder. He's especially fine with the guy killing Crimson, since it would be one less thing for Skylar to worry about in his already stressful life.

Although... now that he thinks about it, Skylar's life isn't all that stressful anymore. Not like it used to be.

Skylar can't hear anything—his hearing doesn't clear up until he's out in the corridor—but he can still see. His eyes aren't particularly trustworthy, but there is black ink all over both Crimson and Ash, and Ashton...

Despite it all, Ash appears to be happy.

That's probably wrong. Skylar has to be hallucinating most of this. Sure, Ash has clearly been holding the guy and torturing him ever since the warehouse incident, so he's capable of some pretty fucked up things, but this?