An Exception

Chapter Three

"Of course. Do you expect me to trust in a mortal or one of those ignorant gods?" Zamasu mimicked the demon, folding his own arms across his chest. Just what was Fu trying to get at?

"Yes, I do. Someone like myself doesn't need it, but someone like you does. Your body wasn't the only thing damaged; you've definitely got a lot going on up here as well." He tapped at the side of his head before leaning away from the table to approach the Kai. "You need stability. Don't you see what happened when you lost that? Two people who had each other. Two people who thought exactly alike. Two people with the same goal . . . but when they fused, that was lost. Now there is one person who failed. One person who cannot obtain what he wants. One person who lost his chance at his dream."

Fu stopped in front of Zamasu and buried a hand in his hair to gently tilt his head back so he could look him in the eye, "Your mind broke down. You had a total meltdown, both mentally and physically." He couldn't help but laugh at his ill-timed joke, earning him a sharp glare from the god. "Sorry, sorry . . . but in all seriousness . . . you need to find your ground again. You're useless to our team if you cannot stabilize yourself. What could you possibly hope to do on your own in the state you're in?"

Useless . . . unstable . . . ugly . . .

How had he, the most supreme and perfect god, come to be described as such things? He had been beautiful, flawless, all-powerful . . . he had been everything he could have ever wanted. So how? How had he fallen to the absolute bottom? "I . . . I'm not . . ."

"You are. But you'll get better. Get strong again and get revenge. Help Hearts with his goal and you will also find power." More likely than not, the whole team would get obliterated at some point. Still, it was fun and interesting to see how far they could take it. Right now, though, Zamasu would only hinder them. "Until then, though, I'll keep giving you medicine and we'll keep you here. If you want to go out, you have to get over your failure."

Fu saw the way Zamasu trembled, his eye wide and staring out at nothing. His reaction when he was reminded of his failure amused the demon. "Does it bother you when I talk about it?" His free hand now gently held Zamasu's chin as the hand in the god's hair now gripped the white locks tightly, "You, who was so mighty and powerful and full of himself . . . look what has become of you."

Why was it so difficult to breathe? It felt like some tremendous weight was pressing against his chest. Even swallowing took great effort. His vision . . . the edges were cloudy and his vision went in and out of focus. Fu's voice sounded as though he was standing far away even though he was right in front of his face.

Failure.

The mortals had ruined everything!

Look what has become of you.

He was beautiful, perfect, supreme! What had happened? Why had so much been stolen from him when all he wanted was to save the cosmos themselves? Were they not more important than the greedy, ungrateful mortals who dwelled within?

"I . . . I . . ." The words just wouldn't come out. What did he even want to say? That he wasn't a failure? That he was still perfect? Those were statements he knew were lies. They were not true, not anymore. He had failed. He had been made imperfect.

"Fu! Back off!" Hearts entered the lab when he felt it was taking entirely too long. He told himself that he shouldn't follow them, that he shouldn't worry about a god, but . . . he'd found himself waiting outside of the lab anyhow. It was too quiet and it was taking too long. A simple injection should have been only a few minutes at the most! Luckily he'd followed his instincts and gone inside, only to find that Fu was in Zamasu's face and Zamasu looked nothing short of traumatized. "What are you doing!?"