Don't Forget Me

Chapter Six

"...Tom..?" Tord asked, bewildered. Sure enough, the figure underneath him was the missing God.

"T-Tord! ..Hi.." Tom looked rather frightened.

"Where the hell have you been!?" Tord snapped at him. He wanted answers. "We've been worried!"

"Like hell you have!" Tom snapped back. Tord froze. What did he mean by that? Of course they were worried, why would he think otherwise? Tom struggled underneath him, wincing in pain, as Tord's nails dig into his arms further. Noticing what he was doing, Tord leaned back, letting go of him. But, he made no movement to get off of him.

"Where have you been?" He asked, softer this time.

"I've been in the caves," Tom said, refusing to look at him.

"This whole time? And you didn't tell us?"

"I didn't want to. You weren't supposed to know I was here."

"So, we were supposed to just assume you died?" Tord was a little annoyed at that.

"That would have been ideal, yes." Tom shrugged, finally turning to face the other. His eyes were damp, and Tord froze. He was going to cry, wasn't he..?

"What's going on?" Tord didn't care how broken his voice was, or how close to crying he sounded. He didn't care. Let Tom know what he did. No matter how messed up it seems, let Tom know what he's doing to them all.

"Nothing's going on," he said, voice cracking. Tord wanted to counter his statement, but unknowingly, he had created a way for Tom to escape.

In his frustration and confusion, storm clouds had formed above them, hiding the bright, glowing moon. Tom, noticing the lack of light, faded down into the shadows through the floor. Tord jumped to his feet, and looked around hoping to catch some glimpse of the God. He tried receding the clouds as fast as he could, to force Tom out of the shadows. As the clouds receded, the shadow kept trying to dodge each and every one of them. However, as soon as the moonlight hit him, Tom was pulled out of the ground, aggressively. He let out a cry of pain, and staggered to stand.

Oh no...what did he do to him!? Tord ran over to him and tried supporting him with his arm around his shoulder. He lead the him to the edge of the forest, and sat him down on one of the smaller tree branches. He was holding onto his arm, almost as if to stop some sort of bleeding, but there was no blood.

"What did you do that for?" He asked, wincing.

"I needed to stop you. I didn't know I'd hurt you!" Tord said, prying away his fingers so he could look at the wound. Miraculously, there was no wound.

"It doesn't physically hurt me," he said to him, "I just get the feeling. It leaves no marks." Tord nodded, and the two sat next to each other for as long as they could. The silence was comforting, and peaceful, until Tord broke it.

"What did you mean by 'Like Hell you have'?" he asked, turning to him. But, Tom looked away.

"I mean, you guys aren't worried. You can pretend you are, but, you still make it painfully clear you don't." Tom sounded conflicted. Almost like he didn't fully believe himself. But, something was telling him it was true. Something or someone.

"Wh-What? No!" Tord looked over at him, bewildered, "No, of course we're worried!"

"Uh Huh. Nice try..." Tom jumped up, off the branch, and began walking away. Tord slid off, as well, and followed him.

"Tom, where are you going?" He asked, scared he knew the answer already.

"I'm going away," Tom confirmed Tord's fear.

"You can't! You just...can't. Please." He reached out to him, but Tom swatted his hand away.

"No! You can't just lie to me, and say you'll miss me! You can't just mess with me! You just...can't..."

"And that's where you're in luck! I'm not! None of us are!" Tord snapped.

Tom shook his head, turned away, and scoffed, "Tell them I'm dead."

"You're not dead. I won't just tell them. I won't just let them give you up! None of us will give up!" Tord grabbed his shoulder to stop him, when Tom flung around. His eyes were glowing a purplish blue.

"Why not!? Why do you insist on keeping me around!? I have done nothing to help any of you! I have none nothing useful!"

Slowly, the God began to shift into a familiar form. He completely ignored the pain as he allowed his monster form to talk over. Tord stumbled back, as the monster walked closer to him.

"Tom...Tom this isn't you. Please, this isn't you!" He yelled, hoping his words would reach the scared God inside the monsters head. As it continued walking towards him, Tord realized what Tom had done. He had given up his sanity to the monster, and allowed it to have control over him.

««•»»

"Tord! Tord, please!" Tom screamed. The monster stalked closer to him, while Tom could only watch, powerless.

"Tom...Tom this isn't you. Please, this isn't you!"

"I know!" He screamed out. "I know.." He dropped to he knees.

The next thing he knew, the monster slashed at him, sending him, full force, into a nearby tree, with claw marks all on his chest and stomach. Tom watched, horrified, at what he was doing.

But it wasn't him!

Was it..?

««•»»

The monster turned to Tord, who was coughing, and holding his stomach. It started towards him again, when all of a sudden, vines and branches curled around it's legs and arms, holding it in place.

"Tord! Run!" a familiar voice yelled out. The monster twisted to face Edd, who was holding it in place. It started twisting around, trying to break free from its trap, but Edd held it securely in place.

"Run! I can't hold it for long!" Tord finally came to, and he turned to run, taking a glance back at what was once his friend. He ran as fast as he could, as far as his legs would take him.

Not even a minute later, and he heard the monster cry out, and run off, presumably back to Tom's caves...

Edd gently landed next to Tord, folding his wings up, "We can heal this. How are you feeling, though?"

Tord turned to the direction he came from, and shook his head, "Not good.."

"That was Tom, wasn't it..?" Tord nodded his head, but he refused to believe it.

That was a monster. That was not Tom. Tom was kind. He was smart, and caring. He would never hurt him this bad, no matter how many arguments they got into. He wouldn't do this. He was lonely, and depressed, but he didn't act out. Ever. That wasn't Tom. That wasn't a side of Tom. That was something that was using him. Something was using his body. Because here's no way that was Tom.

Right?