HuskerDust Oneshots

Nightmares & Whiskey

TW: Graphic Nightmare, Mention of Character Death, Minor Injury/Blood Mention, Psychological Torture, Traumatic Memory

     Cameras flashed all around. Sinners of all manner flocked into a massive crowd to get a glimpse. Husk looked down at the dark suit and glittering gold vest adorning his body. There were gold rings and a matching gold watch on his wrist, and a sleek black cane with a white die at the top was in his hand. He was walking along a red carpet in polished black dress shoes. He radiated power, a feeling he was all too familiar with. He was an Overlord again. Above him, hung the flashing sign to his treasured casino; The Cat Eye Casino. It used to be his favorite place in all of Hell. Now, it serves as a miserable reminder of how alcohol and gambling is what ruined his life. And yet, he couldn’t stop going towards it. The power was just as intoxicating as always. If he could just grasp it once more, maybe he could fix all the mistakes. He walked closer to the casino door, but it began to stretch further and further away. He started to run towards it. The crowd was gone, and the carpet faded into darkness. The lights on the sign began to flicker and dim until the casino was gone, and Husk was surrounded by an empty void. He looked around for something, anything, but there was just inky nothingness for who knows how long. Until finally, there was. In the distance, he saw a shape start to form out of the dark, and move towards him. 
Then came a disembodied giggle. It was soft and carefree, holding the delicate sound of childhood innocence. It was a sound he hadn’t thought about in years. A little girl came running out of the void. She had sunkissed brown skin, dark curls tied into pigtails adorned with colorful ribbons, and brown eyes. He recognized her instantly. She was nothing more than the ghost of a memory, but he could never forget her face. 
“Daddy!”, she called out to him, running to him. He felt his heart crack in half. For the longest time, he would’ve done anything to hear that again. He kneeled down and opened his arms for her to run into. Surprisingly, she ran right past him. Husk instinctively ran after her. 
“Allison?”, he called out, confused. “Baby, where are you goin’? I’m right here” 
“Come on, Daddy! We have to go!”, she yelled back to him. This only furthered his confusion, but he pushed it away as he followed his daughter. She was a few feet ahead of him, but he was struggling to keep up with her. It felt like he was running in slow motion. Where were they even going? What were they running from? In less than a moment, he had his answer. From his far left, he heard the roaring of a car engine. The headlight had locked onto him and Allison and began charging towards them. Husk tried to run faster, but the floor suddenly became tar. Every step felt like he was sinking. 
The car’s engine revved, and it barrelled past Husk while he stood frozen in place, unable to move. When the car passed him, everything slowed. Two shadowy figures sat in the car, one driving while the passenger pulled out a gun. It was only then he realized what was to happen. Husk looked forward at little Allison who was still running ahead; her ribbons and curls blown back behind her in a nonexistent wind.
“Allison!”, Husk screamed. His voice came like an echo. She stopped and turned back to him. 
“Daddy!”. She began to run back to him. He reached for her. The gun went off. 
Allison collapsed to the ground, red blood spilling from her head. She was just inches from him, just like last time. Husk fell to his knees, paralyzed. His hands violently shook as he crawled closer to his dying daughter. He lifted her into his arms and cradled her close to his heart as he sobbed. 
“Stop your crying. It’s pathetic.”, an adult female voice hissed. This voice was clear as a summer sky and sharp as a crackle of lightning; another one that he found endearing once upon a time. He turned his head to see a black woman in a long velvet dress with flowing sleeves. A square diamond wedding ring sat on her left ring finger with a matching diamond necklace sparkling around her neck. Her long dark curls were pulled back in a sleek ponytail. Her luscious lips coated in a matching lipstick shade as her dress. Her carefully manicured nails painted blood red. Her big brown doe eyes held an anger behind them that could rival Hell’s flames. He could’ve sat there forever staring at her, reminded of every detail that made him fall for her. 
“Alicia”, Husk uttered.
“Don’t act so surprised. I'm always here. And this exact scene plays out the same way every time. You always try to save her, and you always fail. Just like you did when we were alive.”, she lectured him. 
“Alicia please, you know I never wanted to put you two in danger. I never wanted her to die like that”, he sobbed. 
“But that’s exactly what happened. You got greedy, and that is what got our daughter killed. You got our daughter killed”. Husk’s heart cracked in two as her words cut into him. 
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry”, he cried. 
“Apologies won’t bring Allison back. It didn’t fix our marriage, or stop me from drinking myself to death either. Don’t you get it by now?”. Husk could only look up at her with tears streaking down his face. The anger in her eyes only seemed to grow by the second as she circled him like a vulture trapping their prey. 
“You always wanted to be more than what you were. You do everything possible to get more and more power, more money. Always so desperate for other people’s respect, even now. And once, you think you have everything, you still want more; you could never stop and just enjoy what you had. Instead, you had to get cocky. You made enemies. And you ruined our life.” 
“I know I did. But you have to believe me Alicia, it was an accident. I never meant for any of that to happen”. She stopped in front of him, staring down as her shadow loomed over him. 
“But it still did. Because you were obsessed with money, the power. You’d do anything to keep it all and it put us in harm’s way because even when you had everything, nothing was ever enough for you. Why were we not enough for you?” 
“You were! Baby, you two were my whole world!”
“Then why didn’t you stop?!”, she screamed, her voice echoing through the emptiness. Husk opened his mouth to answer her, but quickly closed it. What could he have possibly said to soothe his ex wife’s anger? This surely wasn’t the first time her temper had rendered him speechless. Alicia’s rage could rattle the heavens. It was why he loved her so much. She scoffed at his silence and lifted his head to face her with a single finger. 
“You are so small”, she snarled. “And you always will be. A small, selfish coward who will never be anything more than a shell of who you used to be. And even then, it wasn’t much. In life, and in death, you’re a joke”. 
“I know”, he mumbled. 
“Do you know how much blood is truly on your hands?”. Her voice came out distorted, like a radio rapidly switching channels. Her body began to glitch like a broken television. Husk watched in horror as the woman before him contorted in size and shape from Alicia to Allison to old sinners he used to carelessly gamble away when he was an Overlord. They shifted out from the original and surrounded him. 
“You damned us all.”, they spoke in sync like broken animatronics. “You hurt everyone around you”. Husk cowered on his knees. He didn’t even bother to stop the tears from flowing. They were right. He had damned them all to death or worse. He hurt them all. He wanted to run, to hide, anything to shut their voices out, but there was nowhere to go. 
A laugh of pure madness ripped through the darkness. Husk felt chills run down his spine. He nearly gagged from the overwhelming stench of blood and death seeping into the air. He looked up to see sparks of a familiar green lighting pulsing wildly. The crowd parted as the lightning and laughter drew nearer. Husk instinctively backed away, but found himself being forcefully pushed back to the center of the ring and held in place by the shadows of sinners he used to own. Alastor approached the shivering cat, his stitched, deranged smile wide as ever. He stood at his full demonic height, and his red radio dial eyes were fixed on him. 
“Well, isn’t this just absolutely delicious!”, The Radio Demon boomed. His voice shook the void, causing the lightning to send cracks running through the darkness. “Everyone you’ve ever hurt all gathered in one place”. 
“A-Alastor”, Husk stuttered. 
“It’s truly remarkable you’ve managed to remember them all. Do you remember their screams? Their cries? Their pleas? Their fear?”, Alastor teased. 
“Please stop”, Husk begged, tearing his eyes away from Alastor's cruel gaze. He covered his eyes with his hands. 
“I wonder if you’ll remember it when you inevitably do it to him”. Husk removed his hands from his face as Alastor forced him to look downwards. There at his feet, sat Angel. The chaotic sparkle in his hot pink eyes had dimmed completely. He blinked slowly and he didn’t move. 
“Angel?”, he whispered. Angel didn’t respond. Husk kneeled in front of him and placed a hand on his cheek. “Angel? Come on baby, talk to me”. Angel’s empty gaze shifted over to Husk’s, and his heart shattered inside his chest. He’d never seen Angel look so lifeless. He couldn’t stand to see the man he loved drained of all his light. 
“Angel, talk to me, please”, Husk begged. 
“Husk…”, Angel croaked out. 
“Yeah baby?”
“Why did you hurt me?”, he murmured. Husk shook his head in confusion. 
“What? No, baby, I’d never hurt you.”, he said. 
“But you did”, Angel insisted. He lifted a hand and placed it on his fluffy chest. He reached deep inside the fur, and as he brought them back out, he held a bloody, cracked heart. the blood seeped through Angel’s gloves and dripped onto the dark floor. Husk’s eyes blew wide as he stared, unable to tear his eyes away from the scene. 
“You broke my heart, Husk”, Angel mumbled. His body went limp as blood began to pour from his chest where he pulled out his heart. He leaned into Husk as his eyes began to close. Husk went into a panic and cradled the spider demon in his arms, frantically trying to stop the bleeding. But it flowed out too quickly to stop. Angel dropped his heart, letting it shatter onto the ground and his eyes fluttered to a close. 
“No, Angel! Angel, please no! No, no no! Angel! Please don’t take him from me, Al! Please, I love him!”, the cat screamed. 
“It’s too late, Husker. Don’t you see? He’s already gone. Just like the others”, Alastor crooned. Husk sobbed uncontrollably. He let out a wail from deep within his soul. He’d felt this kind of heartbreak when Allison was shot. His entire world was collapsing around him. He held Angel’s body as close to his heart as possible while he wept. 
Suddenly, he felt something plunge deep into his chest. He glanced down to see Angel’s eyes open and he was reaching into Husk’s chest, pulling out his heart. 
“A-Angel? W-what are you doin’?”, he questioned through the pain. 
“Isn’t it obvious, Husker? You broke his heart, so he’s taking yours. And he isn’t the only one who’s out for a pound of flesh from you, my friend”, Alastor grinned. 
Husk could only watch as Angel ripped out his heart with only hate and anger in his glowing pink eyes. Angel grinned as he held Husk’s bloody heart in his hands. The eyes of the entire crowd around him began to glow. They contorted back into one being again and roared loudly as it rose above him and mercilessly tore into him. Husk screamed as the being ate him. Angel watched with a smile and Alastor cackled in pure delight and madness. 
“No! Please! Angel, help me! Please! ANGEL!”