Believe in Me

Tangle of Emotion

The sun was setting, sinking lower and lower behind the horizon, and yet Grey still walked on with no signs of anyone nearby. In the distance the rumble of something along the lines of a waterfall could be heard, so he was on his way there… but he had no reason behind it except the grim intuition that followed him everywhere. Now that he was in control of the situation humans could die and he could bring them to their afterlife when needed, but it wouldn’t be right to just leave… When did being right ever matter to you? You don’t need to be right, you need to do your job. That’s what you’re here for, the only thing that’ll ever matter anyways. And once again he found himself hushing the voice in his head. The nagging wasn’t helping, and knowing that what it said was probably all true… Nevermind that. He continued on, his blood-red cape already shredded over the years, so there was little care when it got snagged on a branch or caught along the way through the relatively thick forest. Wherever they were, it wasn’t populated. There was no alert of any human fatalities in miles, which was both a good and a somewhat disadvantageous thing. It meant that no one of the guardians had been killed, which was a relieving thought with how they were now completely separated and stranded… but that also meant the forest was huge, and the chance of them finding one another within a reasonable time was… small. It was strange, how he addressed them as them, like he wasn’t one of them. It was honestly strange to think of himself as one of them in itself, as one of anything. He had always worked alone, even Ilia, the only one he could bring himself to fully trust and care for, was away from him most of the time before he was mixed in with Pitch Black and the guardians. Half of him wished it never had happened… but that was the half that had been steeled over the course of centuries. The other half was the half he was unsure about, the one that had opened up… Was it good or bad? Wasn’t it a good thing to be alone in the world? The less you have, the less you care about, the less you end up losing when things go wrong… and things always, always go wrong. But this side of him felt… better than the other side. More relaxed, even along the lines of happy excusing the same pain he still had to deal with, the same tears he heard when he lifted a soul from its body, the same discrimination and hatred that followed him daily.. He couldn’t understand it, but couldn’t stop trying to. Maybe Ilia’s interest was finally rubbing off on him. He hoped not.
Now the hum of the waterfall was a small roar; he was drawing close. Honestly Death didn’t even know why he was heading here, just the intuition that both cursed and assisted him telling him that for some reason this was a place to go. When he got there… he found out pretty quickly why.
The grass was bloody and the dirt at the edge of the waterfall was recently soaked at an unnatural angle; someone had just been there… someone had gotten hurt there. He made his way steadily but cautiously, whoever had fought may still be here… No one died, he would’ve been alerted… so where did the people who caused the bloodshed go? He highly doubted there to have been an argument between the guardians, and the fall was great, but not heavy enough to draw so much of the red liquid… so there had to have been a fight of some sorts. Pitch, Chaos, one of them must’ve shown up.. and someone must’ve gotten hurt. He wasn’t sure who, was it one of the guardians or one of Pitch’s? There were flowers, flowers that would’ve been nice looking had the white color of the petals still been white. Now they were rotted, corroded with the rust of dried blood. That seemed to be a reoccurring thing… Anything beautiful in the world eventually corrupted. He was lucky to have been born in the darkness already. But as he got closer, that feeling was back, the feeling of surprise that he still wasn’t used to and still hated equally. On the ground in the midst of the dying, red-stained grass was one of the daggers he had given Ilia years before. The blade was stained as badly as the grass; she had to attack someone? It wasn’t an animal for complete sure, no animal would attack her, and she’d have no reason to cut anything that bled unless it attacked her first… so that meant it had to have been one of Pitch’s minions. Chaos was the first one to come to mind, he was enraged at her, his anger came rarely but struck hard like a storm would. But then where was she? She wasn’t dead with all thanks, but she wasn’t here. Despite his confidence in her abilities (Grey had shown her how to protect herself), Chaos was centuries, millennium ahead of her, and while she could put up a fight against him there was no doubt in Grey’s mind that an angered Chaos would win against… nearly anyone. Did he take her? Did she get away? Did someone find her and help her? All he could do was stand over this dagger, his shadow taking away the shine the sun casted on the blood. He didn’t know if she was safe… he didn’t know if any of them were safe. He just knew that he wasn’t here to help her. He couldn’t control that… What if she did end up dying? He would’ve lost the one person… Mortal lives are unreliable, they can be lost in an instant. Putting your hope into one will just hurt you in the end… It’s like putting your faith in an object of glass. One false move and it’ll break… ‘Just leave me alone…’ he growled to himself in the back of his mind. He knew it was true but he didn’t want to accept that, he couldn’t if he tried. It was stupid of him to care about her, it was stupid of him to have ended up trusting her, but it was done, there was no changing it. Ilia was everything to him, the only thing he’d ever care about, like a sister to him, a family… Something so foreign, and despite how much he reminded himself and everyone else that it would only hurt him in the end… it was something he had always wanted. Now the man in the moon gave it to him but it was such a fragile thing, he couldn’t stand to lose her and she could be lost so easily with Chaos and Pitch running around… Grey kneeled down and took the dagger into his hand, examining it. However it was used, it had taken some brutal damage out of someone. That much blood didn’t come from a scrape… He was surprised that Ilia had it in her to attack so brutally, but then again, her life had been in danger. Whatever it was… he was going to find her. Whatever it took…
So he continued on, the dagger never leaving his hand as he made his way back the way he came, focusing on the blade rather than on the things around him, but with his instinct it wouldn’t be that difficult to tell if someone was nearby. Maybe it was natural, maybe it was the beast inside him coming alive, but… either way, the heightened senses were something he was uneasily growing somewhat used to. He could tell something moved behind him without looking, he could just… feel it. His hearing was amplified, nothing was louder than before but he could hear things that would normally take focus to notice, he could smell better, he could see better… and yet there was a sense of unease, something stirring in him that at times agitated him, made him restless. That had to be the beast… at least it was helping him out somehow. He was surprised Chaos hadn’t thrown him on a tangent yet... the thought irritated the reaper further. His entire mindset in the hands of someone so wrong… and like a lot of things lately, he couldn’t do anything about it. He felt weak, and he didn’t like it.
Then he heard movement. It was coming from his left, and it wasn’t very far away at all. In the distance between the blockage of tree trunks he could see people… A woman holding up a light haired, pale boy. Wind. Grey crept silently forward, crouching just slightly to keep himself concealed from the two. The boy was flailing, attempting to kick at the woman, the woman who looked strangely familiar… Still though, Death couldn’t fully recall from where. Still though, she wasn’t one of the guardians and with the way she was chuckling at Wind’s struggle, she was no doubt with Pitch. They were speaking, and Grey could feel her voice more than he could hear it, smooth like velvet and yet something was dark behind her tone, sadistically… intoxicating. Despite that, whatever charm came with her only made him more cautious; it wasn’t anything normal. He didn’t feel attraction, so when he did get that strange feeling in the pit of his gut, there was some form of magic behind it. She whispered something before her grip on Wind grew tight and she slammed the air spirit into a tree. Grey could see his eyes roll back as his eyelids slid close and his body went limp, if she could knock him unconscious automatically in one hit, she had more strength behind her than she looked to have. She leaned down, picking the child that she had dropped off of the forest floor, brushing off the dirt that had flaked into his straight, baby blue strands, and turning to walk away, her dress dragging some leaves along. If she was with Pitch then she had to be taking him back… probably to get back at the kid for betraying them. Grey couldn’t allow that, not after telling the spirit himself in his own way that he should make the decision to come along. Death stepped out of the bushes into the open, making it clear that he was there by allowing the leaves to rustle with his motions. The woman’s head turned in minor surprise… She was beautiful to say the least, and yet there was still that venomous… feel to her that set into him uneasily. His chest felt tight, but he wasn’t going to show any weakness, he never had to his knowledge. If she was on Pitch’s side then whatever about her wasn’t anything he wanted anything to do with… no matter how strangely she seemed to be tangling with whatever emotions he had hidden somewhere. He rarely listened to those anyways. “Oh? I hardly expected to see you here,” She smiled so gently, calmly, and yet her eyes narrowed like a snakes. Still, when she laid the boy against a tree, making sure his head fell softly to his chest before rising again, her movements were so soft, so strangely inviting. It made him nervous… now he had no doubt in his mind, this woman had some form of magic that was working with him. “Grey Loss.” She purred his name, stopping a few feet from him and smiling once more, her wine-colored hair falling in graceful waves down her back, her elegant fingers rising to carelessly brush those strands from her violet eyes before those eyes met with his own. Now that… feeling he assumed… was fully intact. His mind was going foggy, he didn’t like it… “You’re not taking him,” Grey exclaimed cooly, not allowing the emotionless tone to be stripped from his voice. He wouldn’t show any weakness to whatever powers she was working on him. He could overcome, he wouldn’t be weak anymore.. especially not to something as small as emotions. She looked somewhat confused, taking a small step forward, then another, inching her way towards him. “I’m only following orders, I thought you of all people would understand that,” she purred. Her voice made his chest tighten, made the beast in him growl and turn restlessly once again. Grey felt his eyes narrow at her attempt to get to him. He wasn’t that accepting… he wouldn’t let anything get to him anymore. “I don’t care. You’re not taking him.” Now her steps were quickened until Death realized the woman was right there, leaning forward against him, pressing against his chest and looking up softly into his shocked eyes. He took a step back but she followed suit, pressing him against the tree that stopped his motions. She was close enough to smell, a faint smell of flowers, nothing that reflected the somewhat hungry flare in her eyes. He couldn’t believe he was attracted to this, what was she doing to him? Grey shoved her off, whether man or woman, he didn’t care how much force he used when needed, but then she was back, her chest against his, her head on his shoulder, the same shoulder that was scarred with black words… “I’ve wanted to meet you the most, you know…” She was whispering now, her head turning and leaning against him. She was just short enough to be able to rest her head against his shoulder, and yet her strength was growing the longer he felt that dreadful poison of the bad emotion, the bad thoughts that she was implanting into his mind by leaning against him, but every time he pushed her away she was back in an instant. “Get off.” His voice held no hesitation, no surprise, just pure, hard anger, and yet she didn’t seem affected by what would normally be scary to most others at all. “You understand pain, true pain… and yet you’re here, caring for the guardians who possibly don’t care for you.” She must have felt him tense. No one had ever gotten this close, she was on him, pushing him into the tree at his back, making his heart race in a way he didn’t understand, making his breath fast. Then she looked up once more, those bright eyes blinklessly confident compared to the ones they were staring into, the amount of disgust, anger, and yet that partial… yes, her magic was working, even on Death himself. He was strong, he wouldn’t fall head over heels for her like most others would in a heartbeat… he was a challenge. She liked it. Like Pitch said, she had better targets… targets much like this one. “You act as if you have no heart or feelings at all…” Her voice was so gentle, so blameless, and yet he could sense a mass of darkness radiating from her soul. “But that’s not all that true, is it?” Seconds passed… then he growled and shoved her off with as much force as he could put into it. Viola stumbled backwards slightly, surprised for a few seconds before the usual smirking elegance returned. Grey Loss was panting slightly, his eyes narrowed but the red irises not having the same strength as before. Being one of the best in the world at sensing emotions of others, she could tell he was confused, worked up and not understanding or accepting the feeling she was giving him. Had he really not felt that way before to anyone? It was rather sad, yet it was just as amusing to sense the surprise, the panic he refused to show. Then she was walking forward again. She just wouldn’t leave him alone. It was like she didn’t even care for the kid now, it was strange, uncomfortable, and yet it drew him in in a way he didn’t want. Her body was pressed against him again, her breath soft and warm on his neck… then she was gone, just vanished, reappearing away once more. “I hope to be seeing you again, Grey Loss. Until then… you can keep the child.” Then she vanished… just like that, leaving him stuck in whatever mess of heart was left in him. He felt… light yet heavy, hated her yet there was something that made him want to see her… Death growled at himself, moving to sit against a tree nearby to the one the wind spirit was passed out against, watching him silently… and yet there was a war of emotion raging in the mind that once seemed to have none. She had no weapon… and yet she had taken him down so far.

Well, I sort of have a feeling everyone hates Viola now. I’m not sure how I feel about writing this, maybe sort of amused o.o’ Either way… thank you so much for reading, review if you’d like, and have a good night.