Unreality

35. His Personal Hell

Mephisto looked down solemnly at her Commander's face for a few moments, before finally picking up his body, as she was now to ready to leave that place, where so much blood had been spilled and pain had been caused in spite of the natural beauty of the environment.

But before turning to the exit, she glanced at the downcast Virgil, whose eyes she was unable to peer into, as they were now covered by the black hair of his lowered head.

Albeit hesitantly, she started walking towards him with Luther's body in her arms, but then something made her stop.

A profound sense of unease permeated her body and mind, and she felt a chill she instantly recognized as the kind one feels when unreality begins to take place. Only this was one was unlike anything she had ever felt before.

'Virgil—' she tried to call out to him, but her voice was immediately stopped by the sight before her — a profound darkness began to emanate from Virgil's body and consume his surroundings.

Filled with dread, the female cyborg instinctively started to run, away from the approaching darkness and towards the exit of the limestone cave, whose phosphorescent blue light was now being greedily eaten away by the ravenous shadow emanating from Virgil.

She continued to run desperately, through Victor's hideout and the cavernous maze that followed, carrying Luther's body on her shoulder whilst occasionally glancing backwards and verifying the encroaching darkness would not cease its expansion.

In all her years with Anima, she had never seen an unreality with such an insane radius and reach.

As he walked dazedly through the mist, Virgil could feel the harshness of the ground below, and how it was covered in cracks.

He didn't know how long he had been walking, but it seemed that no matter how far he walked, he was only going around in circles.

Lost amidst this empty, murky space, he eventually gave up walking altogether, and sat down lethargically on the ground.

Either way, he was too tired to do anything. Too tired to even think about what he should be doing. So he just let himself fall back, resting his head on the cracked, cold ground below.

He didn't care about the discomfort it caused his body; the silence and solitude more than made up for it.

Solitude... isn't that what he had been looking for?

Yes... not everyone is fit for coexistence, Virgil thought to himself.

Just as he was immersing himself in the exquisite sense of seclusion his current location gave him, he heard a jarring noise cutting through the silence surrounding him.

It was the sound of knocking and the rustling of chains, as if someone was trying to force open a door that had been closed shut.

He opened his eyes, sat up, and noticed the mist enveloping the area was thinning, which in turn allowed him to spot a dark silhouette approaching in the distance.

It was a person.

Virgil seethed in silence as he got back on his feet, steeling himself to do whatever it took to expel the one intruding upon the solitude he had sought and struggled so hard to find.

'What are you doing, York? Were you not paying attention to what I told you?' the approaching shadowy figure spoke in a familiar voice. 'An utterly isolated existence is akin to nonexistence.'

With frigid eyes, finely combed hair, and a tidy suit and tie, Luther Weiss was now standing before the former agent of Anima.

'What are you doing here...?' Virgil asked with smoldering eyes and a simmering voice.