//------------------------------// // Hell Hath No Fury Like Fade // Story: Subject 27 // by Phyrexian //------------------------------// Chapter 37 - Hell Hath No Fury Like Fade         Drifting along the current that is the Abyss, I can’t but help to feel at peace with myself. I managed to survive a lot longer than I even expected to, at least I didn’t die alone, like Arkis...         “That may be true, but I was the strong one, you’re nothing without me.” His hand pulls me out of the Abyss’s grasp.         “Y-Yeah? What have you been doing this whole time while I struggled every day just to survive?” I pull myself up to my feet after I’m pulled to shore.         “I’ve been keeping us from slipping away into the Abyss, each time you come to pay me a visit, it puts both of us in danger...” Arkis’s words are dull and flat as he speaks.         “Yeah? Do you expect me to thank you for this? Or do you simply wish to see me begging on my knees?” The venom that threatens to drip into my voice is controlled for now.         “No, I expect you to do as you’re told! I gave you one simple task and you can’t even do that; or have you already forgotten what it was?” I don’t feel like myself, I’m more on edge than usual and my thoughts are filled with madness.         “I don’t remember a damn thing! Hell, I can’t even remember how I even got here! How do you expe-.” His stone cold gaze cuts me off, his eyes narrow slightly and it feels as if he’s staring right through my very soul.         “I took away your memories to protect you, if you knew the slightest of truth on how we’ve gotten here, you wouldn’t be able to handle it. I’ve been slowly returning your memories when I see fit. You’re not ready to see what we did to obtain this punishment.” The exposures to Friend’s potent madness corrupts my thoughts, it’s hard for me to even think clearly.         “You’ve been keeping my fucking memories?! How dar.-” That same gaze cuts me off before I could even finish.         “Looks like your little ‘Friend’ has been a rather poor influence on you, and that’s a shame. By the way, how is that old trickster doing?” His sudden interest in Friend throws me off guard.         “He’s been sealed away in a little white box.” I didn’t realise it until after I said this, but there’s been a smile creeping its way onto my face.         “So, he hasn't broken out yet? Strange, that’s not like him at all...” His comment causes the gears in my head to lurch into action.         “What do you mean?” My voice sounds brittle, strained.         “By your reaction, I can safely assume that he’s been sitting in the box... I doubt this world has the power to even seal away his foot, let alone his entire being.” I’m shaken severely by his words, has Friend seriously just been lazing about in his box this whole time?         “So, what you’re saying is, he could've broken his chains whenever he pleased?”         “Easily, if I might add. And to answer your question on why he hasn’t already, well I’m afraid that even I don’t know that.” He simply shrugs and points his finger at a silver screen.         “Where you’re lacking in power, it seems that your friends that you’ve made are not. For example, take Fade. She might be an ice queen, but her powers are driven by her emotions, you remember the saying ‘Hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned’? Well, your untimely death unleashed something that’s been dormant her entire life. Just watch through your eyes as her emotions for you awaken her potential.” I turn around to see the silver screen with moving pictures on them, I see Fade crying in the Darkness, alone. - - -         Her frozen tears fall away from her face and shatter as they make contact with the floor of the Darkness, her jet black hair unravels from its bun and flows freely down to her waist. I feel a terrible sadness fill me as I broke the one promise that I made to Fade, I choke back a tear as I watch her weeping. All she wanted was to not be alone, and I couldn’t even do such a simple task as that.         “I-I hope you find peace in your Abyss, 27...” She slowly rises from the ground and vanishes from the Darkness. - - -         Fade takes full control over my soulless body, and claims at as if it were her own. My eyes open and I’m laying on the surface of the lake. My body is stained with blood, but not of my own. Fade breaths new icy life into my lungs, she manipulates the blood and forces it to do her bidding.         The blood morphs around my body and freezes, turning me into a true Horror. I let out a moan as I shaklee rise to my feet, Fade’s burning desire to destroy everything in sight fuels my body. I rear up, throwing my head back and release a ear shattering roar, the necro-zombie-zebras around S.K. and the kid slump back down to the ground and the spirits flee; the zebra’s chanting is drowned out by my roar, breaking the bonds that held them together.         “H-How is this even possible?! You should be DEAD!” Cunning yells out, Fade ignores him and stares up at the Agony.         “You’re not the tailed demon... No, no, we know your aura all to well, spawn of Nightmare Moon.” My body is more Horror than Human now, I can feel Fade’s icy being energizing it.         “B-Because of you, I went through hell, what I went through you couldn’t even comprehend! But one kind soul cared enough for me even while I tried to consume him to offer me help, and now he’s gone, taken away from me... I want my revenge for you’ve did to me, I blame both you and Cunning for the one you know as Demon’s death...” Tears streak down my face, only to freeze to my skin.         “How cute, you actually cared for the tailed one, sounds like you almost l-.” I charge across the lake, causing Agony eyes to go wide and frantically search through his book for a spell. Spirits and Demons fly towards me, their claws ripping away at my body, but Fade doesn’t falter, she keeps on charging. More demons and spirits rip through my body, tearing away at my physical form, but with each new lacerations Fade’s icy presences freezes over the wound. My tail dips down into the lake, grabbing a skull and hurls it at the book, it strikes true and knocks the book over; closing it. “HOW DARE YO-” Is the only thing he manages to say as my tail penetrates through his torso, shish-kebabing him. “You’re a pathetic excuse for a demon, I was going to slowly devour your soul and show you my frozen hell. But you don’t deserve such luxuries...” The blade-like spines unstealth themselves, tearing the zebra’s insides apart. His body dangles on my tail as Fade lifts him from the ground and closer to my mouth, blood freely flows down my tail. His body shakes in shock as his eyes lock onto mine. “I’ll enjoy swallowing your soul whole, Agony.” I bite down into his neck, his warm blood runs down my chin and down my neck. I can feel Agony slowly dying as Fade devours him. My teeth bite down deeper into his neck, causing more blood to gush out. I rear up, slinging blood off into the air and let loose another ear-shattering roar. My tail violently whips the corpse off of it and into the lake, I collapse to my knees and start to weep. My tail coils around me, and rest its tip against my cheek, I kneel there hugging my tail crying. Fade manages to stop crying after a few moments of mourning. My tail hugs her even tighter as one last tear runs down my face as I just kneel there. - - -         “Now do you see her potential?” I stood there speechless and only manage to give him a nod.         “H-How do I leave from here to go back to the Darkness?” I turn around, only to be meet with a disappointed scowl on Arkis’s face.         “You can’t simply just walk out of here like it was nothing, the Abyss brought you here because your soul took critical damage, technically you’re dead right now. But if you wish to leave, you’ll have to sacrifice something to get the Abyss to let you go.” His words hit me hard, I knew Cunning did some serious damage to me, but I didn’t realize it actually killed me.         “Fine, I’ll sacrifice a portion of my memories, I don’t care how much the Abyss wants, just give them to it.” Arkis lets out a long sigh and scratches the back of his head.         “That’s something I’m not too keen on letting go of. Something that important to you. But if you wish to get back so desperately to your Darkness, than so be it.” He places his fingers on my forehead and burrows them deep into my head.         A searing hot white pain envelopes my vision, Arkis grabs my by the scruff of my neck and keeps me from collapsing. He yanks out some memories that I haven't relived and now won’t, and tosses them into the Abyss’s gaping maw. He lets go of me and I nearly collapsed as my vision comes back, I look up to see Arkis standing in front of the silver screen. Out of the corner of my eye I see Fade starting to move, she picks up the book and before I can keep on watching Arkis grabs my attention.         “The Abyss has accepted the fractions of your memories as payment, you may take your leave whenever you wish.” He points behind me, revealing a white wooden door.         “I would like to see what Fade does before I leave.” He nods and moves out of my line of sight and I simply just watch. - - -         Fade’s rage still fuels my body, I walk over the crimson lake with the book in hand. Cunning is visibly shaking with fear, S.K. slowly approaches me, hesitant at first but greets me at the edge of the lake.         “H-Horror... I-Is that y-you?” Her voice is shaky at best.         “I’m sorry to inform you, but the one you know by the name of Horror is dead.”          “H-How?!” Disbelief fills her voice as she grabs me by my arms and shakes me.         “With his powers sealed, he was too weak to continue fighting. Sadly, I was too weak myself to save him...” S.K. is shaking now, and as she looks at me I can see she’s afraid and depressed and a million different things all at once.         “You’re lying! H-He can’t be dead! H-He just can’t...” Her voice is filled with rage and denial, my tail gently wipes away the only tear from S.K.’s face.         “Sure Kill, listen to me very closely, he’s gone. You have no idea how much pain this causes me to say this, but Demon, Horror, or whatever name you called him by is gone... Just be grateful that you knew him for the brief time that you did. He was a very kind and generous soul... I-I’ve never met someone like him before... And now that he’s gone, I-I just don’t know what to do anymore.” S.K. sits back on her hunches and takes it all in, her eyes loses the sparkle they once had in them.         “We, I might be able to save him, give me the book so I may unseal the Tailed one’s powers. If you can keep his body alive long enough, his soul might return from whatever afterlife or purgatory it went to; if his will is strong enough to return.” Fade tosses the book at him without a second thought, S.K. perks up after hearing this.         “D-Do you really think you can do this, Isaac?!” S.K. bolts over him as he opens the book.         “If and only if you can bring him back, I might just spare your life. This is your fault anyways. If you can’t fix him, I won’t hesitate on consuming your souls.” Cunning is already nose deep into the book, levitating the pages as he reads.         “If you’re not My Little Horror, than who are you?” S.K. sits antsy with new found hope.         “You may call me Fade, this was the name given to me by my Mistress.” Cunning’s ears perked up as Fade says this, but continues on reading.         “There, I think I’ve found the spell that might just unseal the Tailed one’s powers, stand back and let me focus.” Fade moves back twenty feet, standing perfectly still as the blood like skin and claws start to unthaw and drip to the ground.         Isaac’s horn goes through the first two layers quick, the third one staggered along and the fourth and final layer crawls at a snail’s pace. Sweat starts to bead up along his brow as he continues to channel the spell. The fourth layer finally engulfs his horn in the ebony black, he looks up and gives me one nod before unleashing his spell. Three black keys materials above my head, each one slides right into my skull as if there was a hole for each of them. They all turn and making a clicking noise as if they just unlocked a door, my vision goes black and my tails props me up so I don’t fall to the ground. - - -         The little white box sits there in the Darkness, the runes crack and split, all four sides of the box lazily fall to the floor; thick fog rolls out from the box as streamers and balloons shoot out from the box. Insane laughter echoes throughout my mind, almost deafening. Friend backflips out from the box and lands on his feet, wearing a sombrero on his head, a margarita in one hand, and a perfect tan.         “Honey! I’m home!” He turns on one heel and throws his hat into the Darkness, the hat explodes into a dozen white doves and they fly away.         “Lad? Lass? Anybody home?” He summons his cane and starts to stroll through the Darkness.         He comes to a stop as he steps on my fragmented soul, he looks down with a grin and let’s out another mad laugh.         “Hey, who broke 27?!”         “W-Welcome back, Friend...” Fade appears in the Darkness, standing right behind him.         “Aren't you just looking as lovely as always! Now lass, who broke the lad?!” Friend turns around and sees the dark gloomy look on Fade’s face.         “T-Thank you... And what are you talking about? 27 is d-dead...” Fade folds her arms together and looks away from him.         “Obviously not, or we won’t be having this conversation.” He sidesteps and points at my shattered soul with his cane.         “He-He-He.” Fade can barely keep herself from breaking down into tears, she only managed to stutter as she slowly approaches me.         “Huh, seems to be a piece missing from his soul... Lass you wouldn’t know what has happened to it, would you?” He pokes at the empty slot in my chest with his cane.         Fade falls down onto her knees and is hesitant at first, but she places her hands on the fragments of my soul and tries her best to hold back the torrent of tears.         “Fade... Did you or did you not take a sample of the lad’s soul?” She only manages to nod slightly.         “What did I-.” Friend raises his cane into the air and brings it down onto Fade, it freezes just a few inches away from her head.         “Don’t you dare lay a finger on me or 27!” Fade’s power starts to radiates off of her, Friend takes a few steps back and shakes the ice off of his cane.         She places her lips on my forehead, she rises to her feet and looks at me one last time before turning around to meet Friend’s gaze.         “He willingly gave me his soul, without a second thought. It was either me or the Horror, and he chose me. While you were out on your little vacation in your little white box, I was here alone with 27. I could’ve easily devoured his entire soul, killing you and him, but I didn’t. I only took the tainted part that the Horror corrupted, killing it and sparing you and my 27.” Friend’s throne erupts from the floor, he leans back and rubs his chin.         “My vacation was fine, thank you for asking. And if the lad was in any true danger, I would’ve broken out from that sorry excuse of a binding they called a seal. Now, the lad is in some serious trouble. Whomever he is talking to right now in the Abyss can’t be good for business. By the looks of it, he is either fighting to keep his soul or he struck up some kind of deal. It’s up to the lad to pull himself out, while he’s in there, we need to keep his body alive until he returns.” He taps his cane against the floor.         “I want to spend some time with 27’s soul. I think you can handle such an easy task as this. But before you go, there's a gryphon and unicorn who are friends of 27. ” Friend’s grin stretched ear to ear as his chaotic laughter echoes throughout the Darkness before he vanishes from his throne. Credits Editor frieD195