Ị̸̣̂̅̊N̶̺͍̅̂ͅS̸͈̽͂̽Ì̷̮̞̒͛Ḑ̷̰͐Ë̷̘́́

I awoke at the base of a tall monument obscured and corrupted by jagged rocks and vicious outcroppings, a thick and dark liquid occasionally plinking down next to me one droplet at a time. I was cold. Everything hurt, every single inch of my body. With every passing moment brought streaks of pain blasting through my system, almost entirely crippling me and keeping me limited to my spot on the ground. It took everything in me to flip over onto my stomach and prop myself up on my knees, leaving me exhausted and ragged afterwards. There was a small, pale light that filled a little bit of the area. Where it was coming from, I could not tell.

"You still have some fight about you, it seems." The voice filled the area, with it reverberating off of the harshly formed walls.

"And for what? What do you gain from prolonging this ordeal? Has it not gone on long enough? Are you not tired?"

The constant, painful repeats of pain panging through me made it near-impossible to speak. I forced my head up, trying to scan the area to identify where the voice was coming from. The few words it spoke burdened my mind, drawing attention to the splitting headache that pounded against my skull.

I tried to keep my breaths as deep and as steady as I could, before finally mustering up a few words.

"Kiss.. my.. ass." I took heavy breaths in between each word, trying to cling onto what air I could manage breathing.

The voice let out a deep, shuddery laugh. A figure then appeared right in front of Felix, strongly resembling somebody he knew.

"You don't look so hot, big guy. You should probably sit down."

I was suddenly in Sylvie's bar. It was empty, aside from the both of us being seated in the same booth we always sat at when we met up there.

"Much better, eh?" Sylvie pointed to a drink that was sat right in front of Felix. "Should make ya feel better. Always does, right?"

I shakily reached out, wrapping my hand around the glass. Tequila. "So you paid attention, did you?" I wasn't speaking to Sylvie, instead casting my voice out into the open air. "I'd have figured you learned that this shit doesn't work on me."

"What the fuck're you on about, F?" August slapped Felix on the back, the two of them at the bar of the SunDown Lounge.

I grit my teeth down hard to keep myself from letting out an admission of pain from the slap, my body somehow even more sore and injured than it was just a few minutes ago. "Quit playin' games. It's an insult to the both of us."

Felix was back in the damp, dark place he started at. "Have it your way. I figured you might give up your final bit of control easier if I tempted you with an opportunity to live out the rest of your brain function among your... companions."

"And you're askin' me why I'm draggin' this out?" I let my head hang down again, staring at the murky floor I was weighted on. "Get it over with. You can do that, can't you? I'm in my own head right now, that's what this is. To you fuckers, I'm a tumor."

I looked up and spoke my next words with a hiss, trying a poor attempt to stand myself up on my feet. "So cut me out."

"We would love nothing more than to do exactly that." They appeared in front of Felix, their form and face flickering across every various individual Felix was even a little bit familiar with. From Celestia to Kara, from August to Aleda, from one to the other rapidly.

"However, we are preoccupied." A tear in the open space opened up, giving Felix a view at what was really going on. A vicious battle raged on, with Felix's body having been hijacked and used as the heart of a writhing abomination comprised of shadowy trails and crimson flesh, all twisted together in a horrendous amalgamation. Across from what Felix had become was a being polar opposite to him. It was much larger, and visibly pure. It was radiant with an intense light, belonging to another world entirely.

My eyes widened at the sight, recognizing the holy beast that fought against what was encasing me in my own head. Every strike it landed on my former body resonated with me directly, shooting blasts of pain across my body in response. I had to wrap and arm around my gut to keep myself from doubling over. I forced myself to look at them again, anger now replacing my passive forfeit. "She has NOTHING to do with this. I swear... I'm gonna FUCKING KILL YOU!"

The moment I tried to force myself up to my feet, I was met with a crushing force that was brought directly down onto my back. I slammed into the ground, having to make a strong effort to regain the wind that had just been knocked out of me.

"With the way you reacted to that..." They formed a wicked grin. "..She has everything to do with this. We will make you suffer to the fullest extent before we finally claim what we've been after this entire time." They slid closer to Felix, staring down at him with unblinking eyes. "You will watch as she is forced to cut away at what you have turned into. You will observe as we beat her back, as she endures unimaginable torment from what is supposed to be her 'beloved' now wanting nothing more than to kill her."

I returned a grin of my own, coughing a bit from the increasing weight on my back. "What if she wins, huh? What then?"

They simply chuckled in response, returning their own vicious look before lowering their faces down right next to Felix's. "Then she will watch as you bleed out in her arms, for we are no longer here to bind your wounds together. Every scrape, bruise, gash, cut, and fracture will reopen at once."

"Your petty little bodily enhancements were not the ones responsible for your speedy recoveries ever since you bound us together."

"You will practically fall apart, should we be cut down from around you."

"You will DIE. And she will soon follow. The crushing weight of what she has unintentionally done will eat away at her mind until she turns to her final solution to relieve herself of the guilt."

"And it will have been-"

"ALL."

"YOUR."

"F A U L T ."

My vision went black.