Felix's Apartment.

(should do it

(you ready? :D

I sat on the black leather couch leaned over on my knees, the apartment only being illuminated by the light of the TV. I was in a light sweat as I sat there, a deep pressure building up inside my head unlike any other headache I had suffered in recent times. I frequently cleared my throat and coughed into my hand before wiping it off on the couch and trying my best to remained steadied. The TV continued to drone on as I sat there, lost inside my own raging thoughts and the flood of influence coming from the thing ingrained within me.

The knock at the door snapped me out of my trance, giving me just enough of a clear moment to force myself to my feet and stumble over to the door. I was dressed out in full as I usually was, in my field jacket and a light undershirt with cargo pants and heavy boots laced over them. I leaned onto the wall with one of my hands to take a bit of a breather and compose myself before tugging open the door by the handle. I froze for a moment after looking up at who it was, unsure if I could believe my own eyes at this point. "C-Celestia?" My voice came out a bit hoarse and shuddery as I slowly reached a hand out to touch your face. "Are you... are you real?"

I remained there in stunned silence for a moment, my eyes wide open as I stared over your face for a moment. "Y-You... I don't..." I slowly wrapped my arms around you before leaning into you, a very noticeable weight shifting off of me as I let myself slouch forward into your arms. "I-I can't.." My voice began to waver as I spoke, my hands gripping at the back of your dress like you would disappear if I let go of you. "Sorry.. I'm so sorry, love."

I hesitated for another moment before slowly nodding, keeping myself close in to you for another moment before taking my arms off from around you and forcing myself to stand up straight with a grunt. I held the door open for you and closed it after you stepped inside before shuffling myself back over to the black leather couch. I ran a hand over my face to swipe off any sweat left on it, trying to appear steady and unbothered despite the shaky disposition I had just made apparent. "The kitchen's right there, help yourself to whatever you'd like." I again coughed into my hand, trying to stifle it and wipe it away again before looking back up at you. "W-What brings you by all of a sudden? I'm extremely pleased that ya did, but I'm just a bit curious. I've been tryin' to find you for a while now... could never get a bead on you."

I slowly lowered my head into your lap as you patted it, swinging my legs up onto the couch to lay down fully. I took a whiff of the pancakes and eased up a little as the sweet smell entered my nose, prompting a little relieved sigh out of my mouth as I rubbed my face up against your lap. "You're perfect. I dunno how I was lucky enough to end up with you." I mumbled a bit more after those words, some incoherent confessions of adoration and love most likely. I stared over at the plate of pancakes, only taking my eyes off of them to look up at you from my spot on your lap. "Should've brought me with ya into that war. I promised you I'd fight with ya, I did."

I took the pancake bit off of the fork with my teeth, chewing it over slowly before swallowing it down. I had scarcely eaten for a good while now, unusually disgusted by any kind of food. This, however, was different. It was too nice to pass up. "I've been tryin'..." I rubbed a hand over my eyes, drawing a bit of attention to their lack of irises and pupils alike. "Got scuffed up real bad not too long ago. Some crazy bastard fucked up two of my augments." I held my arm out to the side, ejecting the arm blade built into my right arm. Instead of the full blade, there was only half of it which stopped of at a jagged breakpoint. "That was folded, tempered steel. And he snapped it with his hand." I mumbled, retracting what was left of the blade back into my arm. "Ripped the other one right out.."

I relaxed into your chest, listening to your heart beat on the other side of it. Your heart beat. Your heart beat. Your heart beat. I suddenly sat up from my spot on the couch, clutching a hand up at the side of my head and grunting. I stood from the couch and stumbled forward a bit, falling to my knee and bracing myself against the coffee table. The TV. Your heart beat. Noise. It was all deafening. I kept turned away from you, somewhat scrambling forward as my breathing became loud and irregular with every grunt of effort doing less and less to cover ground. "No- no, no... not now.. goddamnit NOT NOW!" I fell forward onto my hands, continuing to struggle for a breath before gradually growing quieter. Soon enough, silence.

I shuddered on the floor with my back still turned to you, sharp stuttery breaths being pulled through gritted teeth. I slowly turned my head. Blackened veins were running up the side of my neck, sprawling up over my face and sticking into my head. The whimpered breaths soon turned to venomous little snickers as that cursed black vapor began to wisp from my body again. WE whipped around, wrapping OUR hand around your wrist and tugging you down to the floor. WE slammed you into the floorboards, breaking into a full maniacal laugh as tendrils sprouted from OUR inky limbs and wrapped around yours, keeping you pinned down as WE stood up and looked down over you. The laugh had Felix's voice in it, yet it was distorted by many others which were all equally confusing and unfamiliar. Every time WE opened OUR mouth the voices changed, never resembling anything but a group of unfamiliar individuals surrounding Felix's own tone. Given that it was coming through Felix's mouth, it was easier to understand than how it would have been if it were only US talking. "Well, look at -that-. The Hope of the Skies herself. How nice of you to show up." The veins throbbed against Felix's face as OUR mouth contorted further into a twisted grin.

"You sure know how to practice what you preach, dear." Every word was laced with some kind of verbal poison, being spat from OUR tongue with a mix of amusement and intense hatred. "It's a bit hypocritical of you to say that, is it not? I mean, look at him." WE motioned our hands to OUR body, grinning only wider as time went on. "He is only like this because he has been fighting this -entire- battle on his own, uphill and stranded against US." WE laughed, tightening the tendrils around your arms and sprouting off more to pry your wings away from in front of you. "Sure, that one boy Kaio helped him out now and again- but it was never enough. And it was never from YOU." WE pointed a finger directly at you, as if to shame you for your apparent failure in Felix. "You seem to have trouble with your own morals. Not in the sense that you cannot abide by a set of them, but because you fail in them constantly." WE paced around you, continuing to lay into you. "You went off to fight -YOUR- war, for -YOU-. We all know that's what it is. And yet you claim it is for the good of those who inhabit this earth?"

"People have been killing people since the concept first appeared in man's mind. It has been worse than ever, recently."

"Warfare rampages across multiple fronts. Murders are enacted, both officially and not. And where have you been all that time?"

"Staying nice and cozy off where it is you like to run off to while all the bad things go down just out of your sight."

"And, of course..."

"What about him?" WE pointed at the body WE now had control over, snickering a bit more.

WE stared at you for a moment, before slapping a thick tendril into your torso to send you skidding across the floor. WE laughed even harder than we did before, further humiliating you. "You think you have any basis for negotiation here? How pathetic." WE walked forward to you, kneeling down and getting OUR face right up in front of yours. "What a pitiful attempt at making things 'right'. You cannot live with your own failure, so you would rather abandon him AND this world entirely. You are no symbol of hope." WE stood, casting a look of amusement and simultaneous disdain down upon you. "You are not deserving of the faith placed in you. So you shall WATCH as your greatest failure, the product of your own betrayal brings ruin to this world."

"You will SUFFER as you have made him do the same."

"How does it feel, Celestia? To know you have done nothing but fail in your righteous endeavors?"

WE simply smiled, spreading OUR arms and patiently waiting in front of you. "Well, go right on ahead. Strike US down. WE DARE YOU." WE cackled like mad from there on out, not offering up any more words or speeches and simply waiting for you to make a move. WE kept our arms out, not even attempting any form of retaliation and simply standing wide-open for you to strike at. "GO ON, PROVE YOURSELF. GET RID OF US. SAVE YOUR DEAR SWEET HUSBAND, YES? MAKE EVERYTHING ALL BETTER. PROTECT HIM, LIKE YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD."

I stood myself up, clutching at my head but keeping my eyes fixated on the light. I took step after step forward, making it ever closer to the light before feeling something tug at my back. "P I T I F U L ." I was flung back into the abyss, fading out as THEY took control again. The world went black for but a moment, obscuring your vision completely as a mass wrapped around your torso and sent you crashing through the window of the apartment and soaring down into the pavement a few stories below. As the world faded back into view, it was completely different. Nothing made sense, the sky was crimson and wholly tainted as the landscape was twisted and contorted into fear-inducing shapes. Otherworldly sounds came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, creating a horrendous cacophony of agonizing stimuli.

(first ref incoming

(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/d2/c9/22/d2c9220f88ea6896d7a6fdb8d4628ff6.jpg)

** Felix Valentine left the game (definitively). **