Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Capricious Infection ❯ Act 17: Null ( Chapter 17 )

XxXxXxXx

Capricious Infection

By: Melissa Norvell/Revamp

Act 17: Null

XxXxXxXx

The two appeared in a white void. There were no walls and no floor, it only gave the illusion of a hard surface. To their right, suspended from several black chains that were anchored on illusionary surfaces was a figure in a black, cloak that was shredded at the ends. His white hands, the lower half of his face and his short, triangular, yellow horns that poked from either side of his hood were the only bits of color the being possessed along with a red arrow that pierced his chest, causing the dark blue blood to stain and seep through the layers of cloth. It dripped onto what seemed like the surface of the floor in dried pools of royal blue.

Tarvos threw Ringo down by his face with such force that he took a nose dive. He then smiled as he glanced to the being he came to this place to get in the first place: Diablo. The winged Dius took a step away from the blue-haired boy, who got to his hands and knees, glancing around violently at his surroundings.

“Where the hell am I? What is this place?” His voice trembled as fear set in. All around them, there was infinite miles of nothing but white. It was as if the three of them were the only beings who existed. Was this the Null Zone?

Tarvos pulled the offending weapon from his chest and threw it carelessly to the ground. The metallic clank echoed through the dead space as he turned to the human. “This…is the Null Zone. It's a wonderful place you see,” then his voice went from amused to dark suddenly, “no one can hear you scream.”

Slate blue eyes glanced to the hanging being. “Is that…Diablo?”

“Of course it is,” the Dius was amused with such trite inquiries. “I'm going to free him from this purgatory, but before I do that, I think that he would like to see a little show.”

Ringo was suddenly kicked viciously in the face. The force of the blow propelled his body back, skidding across the white floors of the Null Zone. Gripping his afflicted area, the once pretty boy screamed in agony as blood seeped from around his fingers. He thrashed around, rolling on the ground as he tried to will the excruciating pain away. He could hardly see his red coated hands and his ears rang.

“You were never one of the Chosen Ones. To be quite honest, I don't know why you didn't die with the rest of the humans in that sector,” the Dius' words were cold as steel, and Ringo could feel them bore into his skin like drill bits.

He took his hands from his face slowly, spitting up the blood that ran from his mouth. It also ran down his nose and the busted blood vessels in his cheek threatened to leak out as his cheek pounded with pain. There were also several puncture wounds around his hairline from when the being had grabbed his face earlier. Slowly, his gaze trailed up to the grim reaper.

“Your mistake will cost you something very precious,” the reaper held his scythe up menacingly. Lowering his eyes, Tarvos ran his blue tongue up the pole of the War Scythe in promise of a divine slaughter.

“I thought you only killed what was supposed to die,” Ringo said through a strained voice as he slowly pulled himself up from the ground, trying his best to keep his balance and stare down the alien in defiance.

Tarvos kicked him in the side, sending Ringo rolling across the ground; droplets of blood formed a path where he lay, sprawled on his left side.

“You were supposed to die. The date marked for your death was the exact same as the students from Kanoji High School. You serve no purpose. Not to us.” Now would be the prime way to rid himself of something like Ringo. He was neither a determining factor of the important equation at hand, nor was he something that would help them out along the way.

Ringo was pissed off. Gritting his teeth, he could no longer contain his anger for being called a waste of space and time. “Who the hell are you to determine who holds a purpose? There's nothing fair about you.”

“Death is unfair and no one lives forever. It is a thing of fear and detest. Everyone wants to live. No one wants to die.” It was a generalist point of view, but it got the idea across. It was painstakingly obvious that Ringo was chosen to die. It would make things easier on Tarvos if he merely accepted his fate.

That was it.

The human made up his mind to follow the course of his fallen girlfriend and try to take out death. This alien before him was the most dangerous type, with the mind of a serial killer who held no remorse for who he killed. Ringo charged at him, running at full speed with his fist drawn. He swung at the winged one, who merely dodged his attack by leaning to the side. After that, he delivered a harsh knee to the human's stomach. Ringo coughed up blood and stumbled backwards, holding his mid section.

“No one's singling you out. Your marking time is set by a complex system of mathematics that has been in existence since the dawn of time. I just appear when the time is met and your time…has long since been up, human Ringo.” It was futile for this human to still be fighting against him like this.

Ringo really should just accept that it was a nice life to live but it ended here.

He looked back up, one eye closed. Pain and vexation riddled his broken face. “What? Because I tried to kill you?” Maybe he would have let him live if he never attacked him. In hindsight, Ringo had regretted this choice. Never did he think that they would be drug to a place where it was completely one-on-one.

“No, because you tried to defy me. Your marking time was long ago, and my hold on you wasn't strong enough. You just think that you were a chosen one. By trying to kill me, it just made me want to end you all the more. What did you think this would prove?” Not only was it stupid, it was dangerous to everyone. Without death prevalent in their newly formed paradox, it would immediately doom it. Human were so naive. They didn't understand a damned thing about the natural balance of elements and entities. In order for a world to form, conditions must be prime and all entities must be present- death included.

“It I get rid of your physical body, then you won't be around to murder people anymore.” In that aspect, he would be viewed as a hero. Someone who slain the Grand High Messiah. The world didn't need someone like him. It didn't need to be cleared out like some dump. The people who remained alive would be enough to start over and build up a new paradox through reformation and adaptation.

Death was not the answer to anything.

Tarvos frowned, looking a little peeved at his ideals. “Idiot, I can kill you whether I have a physical body or not. If I go down even if it is temporarily, you will go down with me.” Raising his War Scythe above his head, Tarvos swung it down in an attempt to split Ringo down the middle, but the human dodged. The tip of the blade dug into the pristine surface below.

Looking around frantically, Ringo could only see miles and miles of white. It mocked him, laughing in his face and taunting him with the fact that there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. `There's nowhere to run. It's just a sea of endless white and that Diablo guy is just dangling there watching me. No one can help me. Why am I struggling? I can't get away from him. Is there even a point?' His thoughts race, coming to the conclusion that his struggle was pointless and futile. That only made Ringo feel an utter sense of helplessness. It wore on his mind like insanity, grating away the very threads of composure he had left.

Blood sprayed up, splattering his stomach in its warm essence as pain registered sharply in his brain. Ringo let out a bellowing scream and clutched his lower limb, which had been split open with a swing of the curved blade.

Tarvos smiled, “such beautiful agony.” His voice taunted as the Dius suddenly appeared behind Ringo, with such swiftness that it was inhuman. He had to have been moving faster than the speed of light. Long claws dug into the human's sides, digging through flesh and muscle as they wrapped around the bones in his rib cage.

Ringo let out a gurgled cry. The pain was so intense that he felt himself on the verge of passing out. His form violently shook.

“Say goodbye,” the alien's voice was low, and with one quick movement, he pulled the top two rib bones backwards, ripping them out of his helpless victim's body, killing him instantly as his bones popped and snapped. He held the slick bones for a moment, and then dropped him where he stood in a pool of crimson.

The winged Dius walked back over to Diablo and spoke to him as if he were speaking to an old friend. “Today is your marked day as well. Had you lived your life in a child's body, today would have been the day that you would have met your untimely demise,“ he held up the War Scythe, “poor thing, living your life in suspension through the eyes of a child. What a shameful existence to live.”

The Dius' expression turned into that infamous crazed one he held so many times before, “but that's alright, my dear. It will all be over now.” Tarvos drove the scythe into Diablo's chest with such force that the arrow popped out. Dark blue blood splattered all over his form, bathing him in a fresh, new color. The once white floor was marred with dark blue and his white hands went limp in their shackles.

Diablo was dead.

Wrapping his arms around his old lover's body, he held it close as all life drained from it. Tarvos trailed his tongue up Diablo's blood splattered cheek, lapping up the carnage he created before nuzzling him affectionately. “Now you're free,” he purred. “We'll soon be together, you and I.” Tarvos then brutally shoved the body away, ripping his scythe from it. His wings spread out wide as he held his right hand out, palm opened. A vortex of swirling shades of purple and black appeared.

Severing Diablo's chains, Tarvos shoved the hull back, thrusting it into the vortex. “Now, go Diablo! Rejoin with the soul in Dante's body and complete yourself!”

`Because someone like you…deserves the chance to be free.'

XxXxXxXx

Diablo's descending body shot out of the vortex, slamming into Dante's body as he slept on the floor in Rezzi's room. Dante felt the jolt of something slamming into him with great force, enough to bring him out of his slumber. Suddenly, his whole body felt like it was on fire and it glowed with a red aura. The boy writhed around as he began to morph into something strange.

His skin turned white and short, curved, yellow horns grew from the top of his head, reaching through his messy, short hair. Once nubby teeth grew into pointed white triangles of the same shape and size, his fingernails grew and turned dark black. The once brown eyes he had were now a brilliant shade of orange. Panting Dante was covered in sweat as he slowly sat up, covered in light blue beads of fluid. Wordlessly, he glances at the covers he had shredded struggling against the changes in his body and blinked.

“Did I do this? Why does my mouth feel strange?” Dante looked at his now clawed hands and his heart accelerated. “What? What the fuck is this?” Now he was starting to freak out. Scrambling up, his wild eyes quickly looked around as he made his way back down the hall and scanned over the slumbering bodies in the living room. Even Tarvos was asleep against the kotatsu table with his scythe over his shoulder.

`Bathroom…bathroom….Where the fuck is it?' The new transformed Dius was frantic to find out what happened to him and what was going on. He ran down the hall, feeling his way around until he found an opened door and flung himself inside, flipping on the light switch, he looked at himself in the mirror and paused dead in his tracks.

He now had horns, claws, different colored eyes, jagged teeth and white skin. Other than that, nothing had really changed. “What the fuck is this?” Dante ran his hands over his small, curved horns. They felt like a cow's horns, smooth and hard beneath his palms and oddly sensitive. “I've never had these before.”

Orange eyes darted to his arms. “I'm white as a fucking ghost.” Then, he paused. `Wait…was this what Tarvos was talking about? He told me that my body would come back…so is this what I really look like? Is this…Diablo?' Dante sighed to himself, as he continued to gaze at how strange his new body was. “Well, I guess if I should get fucked we can have it be all at once, right? Let's just fucking rape Dante, yeah, that's the plan. Complete and total ass rape and violation. Now everyone is going to wake up and see me, fucking great.”

Nothing like being a freak show in front of your friends. This was going to be hell, and even more so to explain how exactly it happened.

“Well, this is you. You finally become one of us. Are you happy?” Dante heard a baritone voice projected from the doorway. He whirled around to see Tarvos, bloodied, with a gaping wound in his chest, standing in the door. That bastard was so casual, as if dumping ten tons of blood down his chest was a mundane occurrence.

“You'd like it if I was, wouldn't you? You twisted fuck.” Obviously this was his doing. Leave it up to Tarvos to change him in his sleep.

“Such an adorable nickname you have for me, my dear Diablo.”

Dante's features hardened. “Cut it with the cutesy shit. Whatever `thing' we were back then, won't be a `thing' that will pick up.” Whether he was human or Dius, he wanted nothing romantic from the grim reaper.

“It doesn't have to be romantic. I'm fine being what you want me to be,” he was merely making a joke and poking fun at the other male. That was something Dante would have to get used to, no matter how much he shoved him away.

The younger male walked up to him and leveled him with a stern look. “I know you did something. What the fuck did you do?”

“I freed your body from the Null Zone,” he was quite proud of himself for that accomplishment as well.

“Then what happened to Dante's real soul and his body?” He had to have done something to them, but what?

Tarvos smiled. “What do you think I did?”

Dante glared at him, not saying a word. He look said it all.

“You remember everything. Don't worry,” Tarvos assured.

“Then this body…” Dante looked down at his opened hands.

“It is a manipulation of mine. I fused elements of the two of you together. In order to do this, I had to extract Dante's spirit from it.”

Those words brought chills up his spine. “You killed him? What in the fuck is wrong with you?” There were no words that could even describe the depth of nightmare fuel Tarvos excreted.

“I had to. Today, Dante would have died if he lived a normal life. Eighteen months ago from this day, the real Dante would be diagnosed with Creutzfeldt - Jakob disease, or CJD, which is a fatal disease that causes rapid, progressive dementia and neuromuscular disturbances. It leads to a gruesome death.” For once the Dius was actually being more informative than self-absorbed with whatever nercophilliac fantasies he had at the moment.

Dante still wasn't completely convinced. This guy was far from a saint…more like Satan's reincarnate, “like keeping his mind in the Null Zone would have helped him. Stop playing god. You're horrible at it.”

“Actually, the real Dante would have contracted this disease at the age of fourteen by means of infection. I've kept him from this infection two years longer than normal,” the speech made him seem as though he was trying to save the child's life, but in reality he was only saving him until he found Dante again. Either way, his human counterpart was to be a sheep up for slaughter.

“So, you counted on me being here around this time. What if I would have been off?” Wasn't he bending the rules by doing that?

“I would keep Dante around as long as I could.”

“What if you get caught?”

“I'd be tortured by a thousand swords of hate.”

“Do I even want to know how many times you've taken those swords?” It seemed like it was a lot. Tarvos was remarkably rebellious for someone who was psychically attached to their creator.

“Enough to remember the pain far beyond my previous levels of existence. We both have taken the swords before. You don't remember it, but I do,” he remembered it far more vividly than he wanted to. Those were thoughts he'd rather bury with his past lives.

“How do you remember if your memories are wiped clean?” There was a severe flaw in his story. Dante was sure that Tarvos was lying. He remembered way more than he previously admitted to. He wouldn't doubt it if that Dius remembered everything clearly. There was no way in hell that he'd be bought by that amnesia shit he tried to lay down when he was pretending to be a human.

“It's a rare phenomenon in your human species that allows them to recall moments from their past lives.” However, in the Dius case, they knew it was from their past lives rather than being unsure.

Dante's eyes narrowed, and he frowned deeply. “You….You can stop fucking with me before I give you another past life to recall.”

Tarvos smiled flirtatiously, “I'd make sure that we go down together, dying in each other's arms.”

“Your loyalty sickens me,” Dante spat.

“What would you rather I do?”

“You're a miserable fuck.”

Tarvos shrugged, “the shoe fits, I admit.”

The Dius walked up to his fellow, wrapping his arms around the smaller male and resting a hand on his shoulder as he nuzzled the side of his face. Dante furrowed his eye brows and let out a small sigh through gritted fangs. A slight blue blush airbrushed its way onto his white skin.

“You fucking smell like blood.”

“It's wonderful, isn't it?”

That's it.

This moment was weird beyond words, and he didn't need another speech on how orgasmic blood was. Dante wasn't in the mood to hear any of his bullshit tonight. He placed his hands on Tarvos' chest and shoved him backwards harshly.

“Don't get fresh with me,” he warned, and then noticed that his hands were covered in blue blood. This wasn't like the dried blood on his clothes. It was fresh. Dante looked back up at Tarvos was a serious and slightly worried expression. “Are you fucking bleeding?”

“It's won't kill me.”

“Who did this?” Even if Tarvos wasn't worried, Dante was.

“Someone who isn't alive anymore,” like hell he was going to tell him that he killed Ringo.

Now wasn't the time, and they would all find out eventually.

“Can't you heal yourself?”

“I used to be able to, but that power was taken away.” Too bad at that, considering he would have been better off healing himself to be rid of that little piece of evidence.

Without taking much thought into it, Dante lifted up Tarvos' black, baggy t-shirt and examined the wound. It was a stab wound, right in the middle of his chest. He noted on his bad it looked. In the back of his mind, he momentarily thought about how similar their bodies were in structure. Faint chuckling was heard from the alien as Dante's face twisted in anger. He could feel a vein popping from his forehead, “I want to back hand you so bad, you fucking creeper.”

He knew what Tarvos was thinking. He didn't even have to try to think about it.

“It's completely through my body,” the Dius informed.

“How are you not dead?” If he were a human, no doubt that would have ended his life. However, maybe their bodies were structured differently when it came to internal organs. If he thought he was in danger of dying, then Tarvos would be telling him something…

Then again, his fascination with death included his own. Dante wasn't too sure of what was reliable anymore.

“I have no heart,” it was a joke said in a serious tone, as if spoken matter of factly.

“Stop being an asshole. That's not even funny, you sick-minded douche canoe,” Dante scolded the other Dius before telling him that he was going to get something to stop the bleeding. Dante headed down the hall in search of a first aid kit and some needles.

XxXxXxXxXx

Rezzi sat in the floor, wrapped in a white, furry blanket with her headphones on, sending text messages. Across from her, Lannad stirred awake. The girl rubbed her eyes and yawned, slowly looking around the room as her haze wore off. She spied her friend with her face illuminated by her cell phone, bathed in a milky light.

“Rezzi?” She said groggily, gaining the blind girl's attention.

“What are you doing up this late?” Rezzi asked. There was still plenty of time to get sleep if she wanted.

Lannad sat up slowly, her light blue hair cascading around her. “That's what I want to know about you. I just woke up because I thought I heard something earlier. I was keeping a watch out for aliens.” After all, Oz did tell them that they were roaming around, waiting to slaughter whoever was in their path. The very thought made her nervous. Speaking of aliens, that topic brought up a whole new series of questions in her mind, ones she'd been dying to ask. “Why haven't you been helping us fight lately?”

“I'm blind and my weapon can't do things like that. All I can do is hit people with it.” It wasn't as hard as it seemed, but Rezzi wasn't in to trying to judge distance. While she wasn't bad at it, using it like an axe was gory and it took a lot of effort to use.

“Do you not know how to use your power?” If she didn't then Lannad would have been happy to teach her.

“I do.”

Now she was confused and kind of peeved. “Then why don't you? You always said that you weren't completely blind. You always stuck up for yourself until now.” This wasn't like her at all. Something changed after the world ended, but she wasn't sure what. The Rezzi before her was no longer the one she had once called a friend.

Actually, she didn't even know who this girl was that she was talking to right now.

“There's nothing wrong with realizing my position.” Those words meant more than Lannad knew. She was merely playing the part designated to her. It was something that her friends would just have to accept.

“Who is capriciouscarnage?”

She had a feeling that question would come up.

“An online friend.”

“He's a Dius, isn't he?” Lannad pushed for an answer. She was tired of not knowing anything, and she'd long since been onto her friend.

Rezzi was a little annoyed with her constant prodding in affairs that were none of her business. She decided to let her irritation be brought to the table. “I don't know and even if I did, it isn't your business.”

“Did you know about this before it happened?” She might as well just come out and ask instead of leading Rezzi around.

The gothic girl frowned, and she looked very stern. “Why are you accusing me of things all of a sudden?” It really was out of nowhere.

“It's not sudden. I noticed that you're always texting someone on your phone. You never argue with anyone or state your opinion. You don't fight. You just sit back and watch while everyone else stick their necks out and risk their lives. You didn't even react when Mae died. Don't you care? She was your best friend, or so I thought.” It was as if the Rezzi she knew became a cold, heartless bitch. In the priestesses' eyes, she might as well have been a female Tarvos. It was painful, more than she would ever admit. Lannad hated these changes. The new Rezzi was something she was beginning to resent. It was like her friend didn't trust her with anything anymore. She couldn't stand it, and she did notice. Lannad noticed everything about her.

“You don't understand anything. There are things in this world that you weren't meant to know,” Rezzi remained calm, but her voice showed a slight edge. Lannad was really testing her right now and she was determined not to crack under pressure.

Lannad's gaze burnt into hers, straight through her glasses to her nearly white eyes. “You know, don't you?”

“According to your suspicions.”

“What has capriciouscarnage been telling you?” The priestess provided her own edge this time.

“Middle fingers,” the answer was avoidant, but truthful.

“Tell me who he is,” she pressed.

“I don't know his name.”

“Why are you protecting him?”

“I'm not. I just actually don't know his name,” Rezzi was being honest the first time around, and she would continue to give Lannad the same answers because she didn't know capriciouscarnage's real name.

“Is he a Dius? Is he telling you about everything? He's suspicious. This is his fault.” Now she was just jumping to conclusions on her own. That irritated the blind girl. Her friend was making many mistakes by jumping off of a cliff before looking at how bad her fall would be.

“No, he isn't. You don't know me at all. I don't get you. The end is here. It's what you wanted, what your religion prophesized. Why are you so paranoid and hurt about it? The fact that I talk to capriciouscarnage means nothing. He's on a level that no one understands. He's not even really a part of this.” Well, he wasn't directly a part of anything, but she was going to keep that part to herself for the sake of starting another argument that she didn't feel like being in. Rezzi would defend her friend, no matter what. As the prophet, it was her job to do exactly what she was doing now; making sure that her visions came to life.

“Then show me what you've told him,” Lannad demanded. “I know you know more than what you're saying. I'm on to you.”

…To Be Continued