You Should Have Stopped Then

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Have you ever felt that clench in your gut and that tickle in your mind? Have you ever felt as if someone was twisting your heart and playing the strings to your life? Have you ever felt as though you've lost all control of yourself and that you've been reduced to a mere marionette?

That feeling, it's a sickly feeling, one that would slice into someone's mind and never escape. One that would cause the person to laugh hoarsely with tears rolling from their eyes as they pointed their weapon north, right into their friend's heart.

Right into her heart.

Snapping out from his nightmare, cold sweat drenched Add's body, his eyes darting frantically as he clenched the edge of his table that held the majority of a new project he had been working on.

It was still pitch dark, with only the artificial lights glowing dimly in his lab. His hair was in a mess, merely tied up in a messy ponytail. His lab coat covered his body, but not doing anything to protect him from the cold chill that ran up his spine.

With a cup of cold coffee and a half eaten chocolate bar sitting on a stool that was placed next to one of his numerous bookshelves, Add stood up and strolled towards the items, picking them up carelessly before throwing away the cold coffee and taking a bite out of the chocolate bar.

His eyes glanced to the purple screen that lit up almost cruelly, with all the data he managed to gather up but also the haunting reminder of what he had to pay for it all. Sharply and quickly, he walked towards the screen before saving the data and opening up a new file, causing electronic blueprints to flash to life.

"You said that you gave up on this," stated the queen, her eyes blank as she sent out another attack to the grinning man.

Laughing loudly, his voice echoed in the core of the dungeon as he ordered his dynamos to flash forward, with them sparking off with painful power. "You honestly thought that?" He sneered as he punched her in her gut, causing her to double over before her nasods could react.

"You have betrayed me," forced out the queen as she glared at the man with all her might, her hands pressed against the dust covered ground as she tried to push her self up.

"Whatever you say, your highness," mocked Add as he knelt down next to the beaten up queen - his dynamos distracting the nasods whilst his eyes glinted with a crazed madness.

Taking in deep breaths, Add began to type faster as he felt his figure tremble. His mind was at war with itself whilst his heart was constantly trying to leap to control, it felt as though his mind was being ripped apart with those memories, with those thoughts.

"Leave me alone," he muttered to the darkness that he felt lurking in his mind. His lips twitched, feeling the dying urge to grin before he quickly rubbed his chipped lips with his hand before typing again.

"Add! Let her go!" Screamed Elsword, his eyes wide with horror as the rest of the gang slowly arrived, one by one - only to see Add's dynamos fighting Eve's nasods whilst Eve's small body laid sprawled on the ground with bruises and dirt covering her.

Laughing a crazed broken laugh, Add turned his attention to the group before giving a kick towards Eve's body, causing her to grunt lightly in pain. He clenched his hands before glancing to his dynamos that were still fighting.

"Well look who's finally here," he taunted as he briefly heard Raven growl from the group, while the rest of them were frozen in their spot.

"Why are you doing this?" Yelled out Rena, her hands shaking as she clutched onto her bow as she watched Add laugh, his body shaking.

"Power," he whispered distantly as a purple streak began to ignite from his left eye, "I need more of it!"

Now that he looked back on that day, he noticed how he gave up something that he held so dear to his broken dead heart, for something so petty that now dances in his hands.

Rubbing his forehead, Add fiddled with a pen, sending off random sparks of energy into it, causing it to glow into a weak purple colour. In all honesty, he never thought that he would end up like this. With him clutching the key of the codes within his hands whilst he watched the beaten down group. He didn't think that he plan would work - to obtain those codes.

Sometimes, he wondered what would've happened if the plan didn't work? Would he still be a part of that group of friends, would he still have the amount of power that he has now? Would he... Would he be alone?

Abruptly standing up, he walked out of his lab, his dynamos following behind him as he placed his hand on the handle of the door.

"Add, you have to stop this!" Growled out Elesis as she swung her weapon at the monsters that were still standing in the dungeon, her body feeling weak after passing through eleven floors.

"You promised to leave her alone!" Screamed out Chung as he blasted a few of the monsters towards the wall, causing them to be dazed for a while.

"Why, just why would you do this to your friends?" Asked Aisha as she felt a tear trickle down her face as she cast another spell.

"Don't do this," prayed Ara as she thrust her spear towards another group of monsters.

All through out the while, Add stood silently, watching the fight with conflicted eyes. Just lying before him was the queen of nasods, the one that held all the codes that he could have ever wished for, to bring such a powerful race back to life. But yet, fighting those monsters were a few people that he could almost consider as his friends. But that itching scratch, that mental pull, pushed away every last inch of his sanity away.

"You can't stand in the way of my power!" He howled as he charged forward, knocking Elsword to the ground without mercy, his mind turning blank.

"Ground impact!" Yelled out Raven as the floor shook, causing a few of the monsters to topple over.

His eyes narrowed as he stared at the handle, watching it shine brightly in the dim light. Ten years, it has been ten years since that day now, hasn't it? To gain all that information, all that power, he had to pay a price. So much he had to pay. It started off with him losing the last inch of his sanity, but then it grew and grew until his insanity began cutting him down like a knife. But that was only one part of the price he had to pay.

Continuing on, as he lost his mind, the second part of the price that he had to pay was what he considered as his friends. He destroyed them, battered them down, lured them into a dungeon where he watched them fight off the numerous monsters, while he just watched in the shadow. And then, on the last floor of the dungeon, he fought. But instead of fighting with them, he fought against them.

And the last price that he had to pay, was the haunting regret that he has had to face, through the days, through the years. It would always appear, no matter how much he tried to drag the regret away, no matter how much he tried to focus on something else.

It just always stayed.

"You're all just marionettes, dancing like this," laughed Add as his dynamos began swirling around in a circle, almost as if dancing in victory.

"So now, let me show you what real power is," he grinned as he thrust his hand to the air, screaming out, "psionic generator!"

The purple hue grew brighter and brighter, causing everyone to clench their eyes shut, the buzzing of the attack grew louder and louder as an explosion echoed in the dungeon, throwing everyone towards the walls.

Standing alone in the middle of the floor, Add stood clutching his heart.

You should have stopped then.

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