Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down ❯ Save Me From The Darkness ( Chapter 5 )

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

Save Me from the Darkness

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Author's Note: In several reviews I've had comments as to the reader's surprise that Kenken broke free of the serum. Some readers thought that was a little early.

Good insight, and definitely true. However….

Ahhh, my dear, dear friends.

Have you forgotten?

I am Chaosdreamer.

Nothing ever works out that simple.

Special thanks to all reviewers and readers. Sadly I do not have to privilege of having compiled all of your names together as one whole list, but these are of the few who have e-mailed me either directly or indirectly:

true source

Evey

circe

Macha

Teresa

HeatherR

Yaoi Sex Goddess

Miko no Tears and Aya

Alpha

Babbling Brooks

CR

Angelique

Lychee

rydiarowen (Hah! finally got it right!) ^___^

Alexandra

silverfate2001

Lots of love and a Doctor plushie for all of you to torture at your leisure.

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Three hours later I awoke from me listless yet troubled slumber, twisting out from underneath the arm draped loosely over my bare torso. Not having the strength or courage I didn't look at the man sleeping nearby cocooned in his long silver tendrils of hair that splayed over his stomach and hips to shield his privates from view. Claude was the image of sensuality and sin lying among those sheets with almost nothing covering him.

Yet why when I look at him do I feel as if I had just swallowed something bitter?

I slid soundless off the side of the bed, moving lightly to a nearby dresser and pulled it open. I didn't bother to look at what exactly I put on, just that I had slid on a pair of boxers, socks, and loose pants and shirt that were all remarkably similar in color.

All the same color: white.

How ironic yet sad. Pity such a innocent and pure color was being sullied. Hopefully I wouldn't dirty it as I had messed up those nice white sheets with my blood at our previous home.

….Now where in the world were such thoughts like that were coming from? Talk about having a negative attitude…

…Everything just felt slightly numb, as if I was floating weightlessly. That feeling soon changed to a strange heat that seemed to permeate through my whole body. I shook my head, trying to dispel a sudden spell of dizziness.

Was this the effect of the withdrawal from the serum? Gods, nothing was making any rational sense…

Especially….

….after last night…..

I cringed at the spark of memories, wordless pleas ignored as Claude moved above me, skin pressed to mine, the Necromancer swallowing my cries with his mouth…..

….Rape……

…Wasn't it?…..

A seed of doubt burst within my chest. Was it rape? I had said 'No', but my body had reacted. Was it just necessary force?

//Maybe I brought it on…// I wondered thoughtfully, closing the bedroom door shut behind me as I moved to the front door, bending down to slide on my boots and lace them up. //Did I give Claude any sort of signal that I wanted to have sex with him? I would think I would have noticed if I had//

//Don't think about it…// A calming voice whispered in the back of my head, //Push it aside until later. Regret and doubt are something not to be considered//

I clenched my jaw tight, hands forming into fists as I finished lacing up my boots. //Damn you, Doctor. Looks like you have won. Even without the serum I am still hesitant to reveal any sort of emotion. Looks like your fucking 'training' to turn me into a mindless emotionless dog worked partially//

"I need to get away." My voice startled me, but I merely opened the door, wincing as it creaked softly. I slid my way through the narrow opening, closing it tight behind me.

I didn't look back.

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//I remember this place….// I glanced around at the distantly familiar scenery, striding slowly and steadily down the nearly empty pedestrian walkway. I unconsciously scanned the street signs and the faces that moved past, a sense of familiarity settling within my gut. Even though it was early morning it was still fairly dark outside even now. My feet led me slowly yet purposely and I found myself leaving the clustered buildings and offices of the city, the road becoming more uneven and wider.

//Close….I'm so close…// I frowned at that thought, the excitement in that statement nearly palatable, //Close to what?//

//Look ahead of you// A voice confided with ill-hidden zeal. I looked ahead and had to force myself to remember to breathe.

I was within fifteen feet of the front gate of Weiss and Schwarz's safehouse. The metal bars of the front gate seemed to grow larger and more sinister with each breath, seeming to stare at me with dead unseen eyes, daring me to intrude in an area that I knew for certain was forbidden to me.

//Oh Gods…..how did I get here?….I can't face them, after all that I've done!!// The panic welling up inside of me was causing my breath to quicken and I had to swallow back the panic and fear before I started to hyperventilate.

//Why am I so afraid?// I found myself stepping towards the gate, wrapping my hands around the thick steel black bars, leaning to press my forehead against the firm sharp metal. //How have I become such a weak-willed coward to fear people that I could kill? Is it because of the lost memories attained from being off the serum? It does provide me with the knowledge of how dangerous Weiss and Schwarz are. Maybe that's it. I am going up against a force that matches, even surpasses my own. It is nearly unheard of and frightening because I was a fool to not anticipate coming across an opponent better than me//

//The ego is the great destroyer// I thought sardonically.

My presence didn't go unnoticed for too long. Several guardsmen were running towards me from the interior surroundings of the safehouse, noticeable bulks underneath their jackets indicating concealed weapons.

Five against one…not too good of odds.

Fine then, I'll play their game. What in the world do I have to lose now? Family? Nope. Friends? Sorry, try Door Number Two? Myself? Lost that a little while ago. My future? Don't get your hopes up too high now.

I took two steps back and leapt onto the top of the high walls surrounding the safehouse, noticing that all security cameras were turned and lens focusing upon me. I stood within a cloud of calm as the men formed a rough semicircle more than three meters below me on the ground, weapons raised and barrels aimed straight at my chest.

"Hidaka Ken, we have been ordered to take you down if you are perceived as a threat!" One of the sunglass-wearing guards shouted.

"A threat…" I murmured softly.

//That's right…I tried to kill Farfarello by manipulating Omi…//

//Talk about this being karma. They're making sure that I won't ever pose as a threat, even if it is at the cost of my life. If that is the case, then there is only one rational solution that these men can follow…//

"Then I guess that you'll just have to kill me."

That calm statement visibly surprised the men, their guns lowering for a split second.

"I am a threat to all of you. The fact that I'm alive and breathing in front of you is a monumental threat. I could kill every one of you and try to do the same to everyone inside." I raised my arms and held them level with my shoulders, baring my vulnerable torso to the range of their powerful weapons. "Kill me, then. Destroy the threat at its very source."

//You must be feeling particularly suicidal this morning…// A voice said with bored sarcasm.

//This is survival of the fittest. Eat the weak and destroy your adversaries….//

"If you don't use the opportunity presented," I said to the hesitant men below me, "Then maybe I'll just kill you."

That certainly threw them out of their momentary stupor. The guards raised their guns in unison, fingers tight on the hair-triggers.

Why am I doing this? Do I really have nothing to lose?

"WAIT!" Someone shouted behind them. I looked up and my arms slackened from the shock of the figure rushing towards us.

Omi was gasping for air as he ran towards us, shouting at the guards to pull back and don't shoot.

His efforts were in vain. Whether it was due to his sudden shout or when my arms fell to my sides, something spooked one of the men into shooting. A sharp blast of thunder rang through my ears and my body jolted from a hot heavy force slamming into me.

The gunshot startled and spurred the other guards to fire, each one delivering off at least two rounds of their own. Some rounds missed. Most didn't.

The silence was eerie even with the sharp metallic stench and the soft plums of smoke rising from the open barrel of their guns. For some reason I couldn't seem to grasp why my legs were trembling and my arms suddenly felt too heavy for me to hold at a steady level.

I reached up to wipe away a slow-spreading dampness along my shoulder. Reality stilled around me as I raised my hand and stared dumbly at the slick coating of blood spread liberally over my palm. The wet burning dampness that had been centered on my shoulder now spread to my chest, abdomen, and legs, my once pure white clothing slowly being overrun by splotched patches of red.

The numb silence was shattered by a heartbreaking scream and I nearly stumbled as I glanced up to see Omi trying to contain the screams spilling out of his mouth. "KEN-KUN!" He screamed, his eyes glassy in horror at the vivid red now mingled among my clothes and the steady drip of crimson falling around me.

"Pull back, you fools! You were ordered not to shoot!" Manx suddenly appeared near the screaming assassin, actually slapping the one guard who had been the first to shoot at me, her green eyes blazing and livid from the man's action.

I coughed and had to spit out a mouthful of blood, the flow barely stopping as it spread along the front of my shirt. I wheezed for air, realizing that a bullet had passed clear through my chest and out my back, piercing a lung no doubt. Fortunately the damaged lung was already Healed over, but I couldn't avoid having to cough up the blood that had already begun to fill my lungs.

"My god, he's covered in blood!" Birman shouted in disbelief, her attention solely focused upon me. She shoved the other guards out of her way, seeming to find the strength to lurch towards me as if she could somehow manage to stop the bleeding on her own.

//IT HURTS, IT HURTS!!// A childlike voice screamed hysterically within my head, the sight and smell of the blood making me nauseous and dizzy. Birman noticed as I shook and stood awkwardly under the strain, the shorthaired woman beginning to shout for a medic.

//Calm down, calm down! Just blood, its just blood. Breathe….Breathe!….// I thought, trying to calm the insetting panic. I wasn't sure if the last command was to still my near hysteria from the horrible wounds or from the loud noises coming from the safehouse, indicating that the others assassins were most likely on their way.

//Fuck this! Get away from here! Tend to your wounds before you bleed dry!// Another voice ordered furiously, snapping me out of my stupor. //It was stupid to come here, but hopefully you'll learn from your mistake without having to die because of it!//

I spun drunkenly and leapt from the top of the wall, nearly losing my footing as I made a hasty retreat from my nearly successful suicide attempt, wrapping my arms around myself as if it would somehow still the bleeding.

//Stick to the alleys, stick to the shadows..// I thought brokenly, wanting to avoid any run-ins with the normal citizens minding their own businesses and going along with their lives. //Find a place where you can hide and heal// After a while I couldn't even tell where I was going, just weaving my way through the maze of alleys and the hollow shadows provided at odd intervals.

//IT HURTS!!!// I flinched from that, not having to hear that to be able to feel the all-consuming heat and pain surrounding me. To my great fortune I somehow found my way to the same park I had encountered on the same day of the mission to kill Manx. I wove my way deeper and deeper into the park where not too many people visited, nearly stumbled down a steep embankment and collapsed near a small trickling brook of water. The tall dewy grass hovered around me nearly two feet in length, the green blades seeming to reach up towards the trees that surrounded this small portion of land.

The same heat from this morning was nearly overpowering and I could feel it affecting my Empathy. I could hear the faraway murmuring of peoples' thoughts and emotions, having to throw up my shields to keep from writhing in agony from so many multiple emotions spilling into me at once.

I gasped heavily but managed to push myself up slightly, arms shaking as I tried to keep myself hovering steadily partially off the ground. //This is going to be fun…// I thought sarcastically, the burning pain surrounding me within a hot cloud of suffocating pain. I breathed evenly in and out, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart.

//It's fine, it's fine. Focus against the pain. Create an impenetrable wall throughout your mind. It'll help to block the pain…// I ordered silently, hissing as I automatically held my breath against the new flashes of pain as my Healing began to set in and force the bullets out of my flesh.

The sensation is indescribable and nearly unbearable and I bled my lip bloody to fight back howls of agony as my Healing ability slowly and steadily pushed the shattered fragmented pieces of metal out of my skin. My flesh shifted and tightened spasmadically with a soft meaty sound like that of tearing flesh as the wounds widened to accommodate and force out the pieces of metal, small trickles of blood flowing from the still open wounds as the bullet fragments fell softly to the ground.

"Fuck!" I snarled, spitting out some of the blood that had trickled into my mouth, the wound on my lips sealing over. I counted the bullet fragments that surrounded me feeling slightly ill as I counted at least seven or eight of them. The guards did a fairly good job; if I'd had been a normal human I would probably be dead by now.

"Can't kill something that can't truly die." I said dryly, groaning as I collapsed fully onto my stomach unable to continue to hold myself up by my arms, brushing away tickling strands of grass and coughing slightly as I sent up a small cloud of dirt. //If I'm not too careful I'll just choke myself on grass or gag on a cloud of dirt//

With a low grunt I managed to roll over onto my back, thankful for the relief of the thick canopy shielding the oncoming bright rays of sunlight. All resistance and strain fled from my muscles and limbs as I allowed my wounds to Heal slowly, the stinging pain a dull aching throb that made me wince if I shifted any of the torn flesh edging the open bullet wounds that were beginning to steadily seal shut. My eyes slid shut and I released a small sound of exhaustion, trying to encourage my mind into some semblance of relaxation as I waited for the pain to ease and the wounds to heal.

//I must have been losing my mind to try a foolhardy stunt like that// I scoffed, //Placing myself in front of a shooting gallery. Brilliant move of the century. I must be becoming suicidal//

If that was true, then why had it come up now? Was I trying to prove something to Weiss and Schwarz, or was I trying to prove something to myself?

Was I trying to prove that I was willing to face any obstacle? Accept the role as their enemy? That the only way to save me was to eliminate me because of all the wrongs I have done when I was under the Doctor's control?

Something firm and steady clasped the sides of my face, warm air sighed across my cheeks, and a calm voice spoke out as if it had heard every word of my private thoughts, "You wished to prove to yourself that you could bleed and feel, trying to bleed away the pain of remembering what you have done and what you have become."

My eyes shot open and I stared in disbelief at the man hovering above me, short strands of white hair brushing along Farfarello's eyebrows and single bare eye. Not dressed in his usual blue and black attire, today he sported a long-sleeved leather jacket with crimson red gloves covering his hands. Black pants were tucked loose around black boots, thick red thread woven all along the outside edges of his pants.

The look on my face was probably comical; I was pretty sure I had turned a multiple shades of color. I made an undignified yelp as I tried to leap to my feet but only found myself tackled by the taller and stronger man, Farfarello easily trapping me with his superior bulk. Forgetting every logical piece of training I kicked and twisted while doing nothing more than applying even more grass stains to my already soiled pants and shirt. Red-clad fingers caught my wrists and trapped them firmly over my head while another hand lay against my cheek, that light touch somehow having enough strength to still my frantic tossing of my head. "How-" I gasped, not understanding how the man could have found me since I was sure that I had left no visible trail.

"You seem to forget. I have tasted your flesh. It calls to me." A deep shudder of unnamed sensation passed through me as Farfarello bent his head and traced along the edge of the heartbeat that raced against my neck. The heat of his body was overpowering. I felt as if I was drowning within the smell of his skin and the taste of crimson and gold aura of emotions that surrounded him. My Empathy was at a completely new level of sensitivity, my nerves practically burning from the press of his stomach and thighs along my chest and abdomen, my legs unintentionally separating to allow him to press more fully against me.

"What have you done to me?" I demanded huskily, not understanding why I was acting so strange. Could it be that eye of his? No, he was wearing his eyepatch. There's no rational way it could be affecting me.

Farfarello chuckled, single amber eye burning with infinite knowledge that I was almost afraid to question. "We researched the possible serums that were most likely being forced upon you. The one that came up as the most logical conclusion had the unfortunate ability to cause the user to have heightened sensation of both physical contact and heightened frequency of whatever powers they possessed." Farfarello's fingers slid teasingly along my face and jaw, coming down to trace a slow steady line down my chest all the way to my navel. He seemed to delight in the visible shiver that passed through me and the way my spine bent underneath the immense physical sensations that roared across my skin. "A single caress is nearly maddening and your Empathy is heightened to almost unbearable levels. You feel what I feel." Farfarello bumped his forehead against mine in a somehow playful manner, "And you are feeling the desire that is flowing within me."

I whimpered faintly, my only answer to his observation. The man seemed to sense my loss of strength while I writhed under the new heat and electricity coursing through my bloodstream, a red-gloved hand coming up to easily snap the black eyepatch free from its secured position over his left eye.

"No!" I gasped, sudden strength springing within me as I shot up partially and my hand reached forward to try to shield away the familiar black and gold power that filled the space within the man's eye socket. A slim pale scarred hand caught mine, trapping it within a firm grasp. A sharp jolt passed through me and my heartbeat was terribly loud as a gold-slitted iris within a black void on darkness narrowed and focused upon me, the power swimming within the burning amber slit beyond words or definition. Farfarello bent down further, keeping my one hand still trapped within his. No strength found its way into my other limb, leaving it to lay loosely alongside my head and against the edges of loosely splayed strands of brunette hair.

"Kiss me." Farfarello commanded softly, his breath a warm burst of air tinged with the smell of darkness and fire brushing across my senses, firm lips teasing along mine. No thought of resistance came to me and I found myself tilting my head up and lifting just enough so that our mouths were pressed together in a strangely soft and delicate touch of lips. It only lasted so long though before Farfarello separated my lips with his own, a strong damp tongue tickling along the edges of my teeth and reaching even further beyond.

A mewl of uncertainty escaped and my eyes drooped as Farfarello pressed closer, leaving no space between our bodies. My loose hand flexed minutely, seeking some sort of handhold to support me through this surge of sensation. Farfarello's one remaining free hand linked through mine, clenching loosely and pressing it back against the ground.

Air was soon needed, possibly more for me than for the Berserker, and I gasped for air even as his tongue tickled along my bottom lip as it trailed back into its appropriate mouth.

"Delicious." Farfarello purred and I couldn't help the flush of embarrassment that flooded across my face. I made a wrong move by turning my face away, a shot of pain my punishment as I hissed from the sting of the wound on my chest opening once again. Farfarello caught the low sound of pain.

"You're injured." He breathed, reaching down and pushing up the bottom edge of my shirt until it was scrunched along my uppermost chest. He carefully traced the newest trickle of blood running thinly from the wound situated in the space between two ribs where the bullet had originally pierced my lung. "You should have stayed to receive treatment to numb the pain." Farfarello said calmly.

"I can Heal it. It's just the pain I have to deal with." I answered softly, somehow embarrassed from the show of pain from what I considered a reasonably shallow wound compared to those I had received or seen.

A sharp squeak of surprise filled the air as Farfarello bent down and covered the wound with his mouth. "What are you doing?!" I yelped in inquiry.

"My saliva will numb the pain long enough for your wounds to Heal over." Farfarello replied, unfazed as I sputtered and choked in demand for him to desist.

"It's fine on its own! I don't want your mouth anywhere on my body!" I hissed in indignation.

Farfarello's smirk was evident even from how it was hidden against my skin. "I didn't seem to get that impression earlier when you submitted so willingly to my kiss."

"Y-You insufferable..egotistical-" I began furiously.

"Quiet now, Angel. You'll give yourself an ulcer." Farfarello cautioned humorously, returning to fitting his mouth over the open wound on my chest, tongue carefully tracing the edges of the wound. He was correct; wherever his tongue touched the skin grew numb from the pain. However, an almost delightful shot of electricity pooled in the areas his mouth and tongue traced as he moved up to lap at the wound on my shoulder and arms, my limbs having taken the brunt force of the gunfire earlier.

"Oh!" I panted shakily, stunned by the amount of response I was feeling towards Farfarello's touch. The areas that were numbed from the pain stretched and twisted languorously under the mind-blowing sensation, the Berserker pressing his lips over the deep cut along my inner arm, taking care of one of the last wounds that lay upon my upper limbs. I nearly shot out of my skin like a cat on a tin roof when Farfarello shifted downward, forcing my thighs apart with his shoulders to reach an open wound on the top of my thigh. The bullet that had struck there thankfully not having shattered bone or pierced any major artery, saving me the extra hour or so of having to regenerate the loss of blood, let alone repair the damaged arteries.

"No no, not there!" I complained desperately, reaching and grabbing his shoulders, trying to tug him away from between my legs, limbs trembling from the unfamiliar weight of a large body lying along the soft sensitive skin of my inner thighs.

"Hush." Farfarello soothed, running a hand up and down my outer left thigh, trying to ease away any doubt. I whimpered in open fear, recalling the night before when Claude had ignored my pleas, taking me against my will, forcing himself upon me even when he knew that I did not want to have sex with him. My breathing became erratic and I sealed my eyes shut, turning my face away as if I could avoid whatever was going to transpire.

"You smell of fear." Farfarello breathed against my ear, burying his face within the bend of my neck, "You carry the scent of the DeathWalker." I was surprised that Farfarello knew Claude's codename, but my attention focused entirely on the Berserker as he cupped my face within strong hands, "The scent was put upon you by force, wasn't it, Angel." He said it in a manner stating that he knew the answer without having to ask.

"In the same manner that you plan to copy!" I hissed venomously, managing to surprise both of us when my fist lashed out, slamming into the man's face and forcing him onto his back from the sharp blow.

"You fool," I snarled, leaping to my feet, forcing away any doubts and the furious anguished cries to stop, persisting in my self-destructing mission to make all of Weiss and Schwarz hate me, "You screwed up royally by helping my wounds to heal at a much quicker rate." With a fierce cry I balled my hands into one gigantic fist, bringing it around and slamming it into the side of Farfarello's head. The pale man smashed hard against the ground, limbs askew from the harsh contact against the ground.

"That's my thanks." I twisted away from my opponent, scattering dirt and crushing grass as I clawed my way on hands and knees up the steep incline.

My success was short-lived as a strong hand curled around my ankle, jerking sharply and sending me flopping onto my stomach with only mere inches between my outstretched hand at the level ground just beyond the top part of the incline. I kicked at the strong force holding back, only succeeding in sliding down further, closer towards the Berserker.

He fit his name perfectly, the sheer demon quality enough to make any human cringe. Hard lines edged his eyes and mouth as he snarled venomously, patience worn thin, animosity so heavy that my Empathy writhed from the force. "And you prove nothing by fighting a losing battle." He growled.

I lunged forward, throwing my weight into the punch aimed for his face. The attack was useless, the man merely dodging the attack with impressive ease.

"ahhhhGGHh!!!!" I cried out softly, hissing as a hand caught me by the hair, scalp burning as my head was yanked back, that single hand keeping me standing and trembling tightly in one place.

Farfarello's other hand caught my chin, trapping it as he breathed along the trembling line of my neck. "You don't have the mental or physical strength to beat me, let alone beat your own inner enemies."

"s-Shut up!" I barked, jerking my elbow back to try to slam into his unguarded stomach.

The world spun and turned upside down around me as I was physically lifted and thrown through the air, gasping as I slammed bodily onto the grass trampled ground. I groaned as I rolled over onto my stomach, sucking air into wracked abused lungs. An undignified sound escaped as a warm body pressed fully along my back, sure hands grasping my hips, forcing them to tilt upward while pushing me forward so that my full weight rested on my forearms. I squirmed uncomfortably against the hot press of leather and skin along my back, pushing my forehead against the ground to try to snuff out the heightened sensations running along my flesh from the withdrawal effects from being without the serum for so long.

I nearly screamed as a cool leathered hand reached down beneath the waistline of my pants, the sound of shifting cloth loud to my senses as Farfarello's hand closed over my most tender region.

"W-What are you doing?!?!" I demanded, trying to squirm away from the confident grip around the base of my shaft, only finding myself pushing back against firm hips with a decisive bulge that was evidence of how happy Farfarello was to be in his position.

"Why don't you just give in?" Farfarello asked with slight curiosity, shifting long strands of hair away from skin to trace the edge of his teeth along my nape, "Is it really so bad to give into what your mind and your body crave?"

"No…You don't understand….I'm in control…I must be in control!…" The last came out almost like a sob as I cringed beneath the heat and electricity filling my limbs, the sensation painful yet oh so fulfilling in a dark sinister way.

Farfarello sighed, leaning closer to lay a soft kiss against my cheek, "You humans," He said with a tone almost akin to pity, "You seem to think that you must be the masters and puppeteers at all times." I gasped as the Berserker thrust his thighs forward, the force separating mine further so that the heat and electricity starting to pool between my legs, "Perhaps all you need to do is learn to give that control away. Learn to surrender yourself."

With his one hand still beneath my waistband he pulled me up onto my knees with his other hand, a strong arm wrapping around my shoulders to hold me steady. A jolt of power shot through me as I felt an unfamiliar power breathing and caressing along the edges of my Empathy, "What is this?" I asked softly.

"This?" Farfarello teased, a large wave of the same power engulfing me simultaneously as both of his grips tightened and hips thrust forward, "This is control. Feel it and wrap it around your torn and aching soul. Feel it as we become one breathing and living power."

//My gods, he plans to-// Words ceased, vision swimming as the power dove deep, Farfarello reaching inward, grasping and wrapping itself around my very mind and very core.

*It's a bond, Angel. I am building a bridge between us* Farfarello's voice whispered through my thoughts, a long gold thread with sparks of crimson and shadows dancing and weaving through the bright strands of color. The single strand was the mark of Farfarello's presence as it coiled deep and tight, reaching and wrapping itself around the thrumming and pulsing crimson spot of light that was my heart.

The sheer amount of power that filled the area made my Empathy scream, incomprehensible sounds escaping my throat as the power pulsed and spilled beyond my limits, nerves and mind shattering and burning from the intense feeling. I was unaware of the inhuman shriek against my back as claws and fangs broke through Farfarello's form, slowly beginning to shred his human image to replace it with his demon nature.

The distant touch of smooth yet wickedly long claws brushing almost tenderly along my face was the last sensation I felt before I collapsed into darkness. I welcomed its cold arms as I fell into the blissful dark slumber, finding myself also wrapped within the gold, crimson, and shadows of Farfarello's presence.