Red in the Night Sky (Splatoon fanfiction)

Chapter 15

Delta shrieked and pulled her arm back. Her hand fell to the ground with a thump, and ink started pouring out of the wound. For a moment, it looked like the ink was trying to form something, but then it just flowed out like a waterfall. 

The Gunslinger took a step back, panting. She stared at Delta, who knelt in front of her. She was panting and groaning from pain as the ink flowed uncontrollably out. After a few seconds, she looked up. Their eyes met, madness glowing in her eyes. 

And then Delta started... to laugh? It was the kind of laugh you laugh when you lose in a game. Like you've given up, and are laughing at the irony. The Gunslinger stared at her, unable to move. Delta looked up again. "Not bad," she said through her clenched teeth. "Not bad at all."

The Gunslinger tried to form words but was too shocked to continue. After being beaten, chained, burned, stabbed and getting her hand cut off, she laughed?! 

Delta looked at her and raised her eyebrows. "Surprised, are we? What did you expect me to do? Kneel before you and beg you to spare me? Though I suppose I'm doing half of it, now that I think about it."

Delta shook her head and looked at her arm. "Did you think I would cry? That I would squeal from the loss of my hand? No. I've already gone through so much, that pain is of no matter to me. I've seen so much horror, that there is nothing that can shock me."

The Gunslinger took a step back. Delta looked at her and laughed. "What now? Too afraid to kill me, are you? Now that I kneel before you, with one arm and defenseless, you hesitate? Is that wisdom, or stupidity?"

The Gunslinger took another step backward, Delta's sword clutched in her hand. "I don't have to kill you," she said and took another step back. 

Delta raised her eyebrows and then chuckled. "I see. You want the fire to finish me off. Now that you've won, why not let me burn to death. It's a lot slower process than just stabbing me with that sword. Trust me, I've done both things, and if you want a slower, more painful death, go with the fire."

The Gunslinger tried to ease her breathing, but there was something about how Delta was looking at her, like she was the one who had won. "You've lost," she said in a shaky voice. "You'll die here, like the scum that you are."

Delta chuckled. "Yes, you may have won the battle, but did you win the war? I have planted the seeds that will lead to your destruction. I've paved the path for us to walk. I was only the beginning."

She laughed again. "You can leave this place and leave me here to die," she said and their eyes met, the fire glowing in the dark deep of her eyes. "But the scars I gave you will always follow you. And I'll follow you wherever you go. I'll be the shape you see in the shadows! I'll be the sound you hear in the night! I'll be the reason why you wake, and I'll be the last thing you see in death!"

Then, she started to laugh. That mocking laugh. The Gunslinger couldn't move. It was like she was hypnotized. Delta turned her head, still laughing, and looked at the pillar she was chained to. Then, she raised her foot and kicked it one last time.

The ceiling crumbled on top of Delta, and huge chunks of the roof fell around the Gunslinger. She could still hear Delta laughing under the wreckage. 

The Gunslinger came back to her senses and spun around. She had to get out of there! She dashed across the room towards the open windows. The house was falling apart all around her. She ran headfirst through the fire and dived out the window. 

She landed in the grass and tried to crawl away from the burning house. She could still hear Delta's laugh, shaking her bones and piercing her thoughts. Then, she heard another voice. "Can you hear me?"