Blackout

~17~

We gather around the pit, leaning over the edge to look at her. She's laying on her stomach on a piece of broken concrete. She appears to be in pain, breathing heavily, eyes squeezed shut tight, like the extraction hurt her. Maybe it did? I don't know and I don't care.

Other than her chest heaving, she doesn't move. So I guess nows as good a time as any to go down to her.

"Quick, someone stab me!"

"...too much?"

I grab onto the edge of the broken pavement, lowering myself down, carefully sliding down the stones until I stand in front of her. The others follow behind.

Darkness doesn't even acknowledge us standing there at first. It takes her a few seconds to slowly push herself up off the ground, kneeling in front of us, grabbing another rock for support.

She looks terrible. Unnaturally pale... but then again she's not natural and she's Darkness so can't say I'm very surprised. But even for her, this is ridiculously pale, only exception being the black circles surrounding her sunken eyes. But regardless of the hollowness of them, her eyes remain the same piercing purple they've always been, even if they do look a little hazy. Mainly because she's not really focusing on anything, just looking around dazedly.

The primary thing about her that's actually catching me off guard is the body she mimicked from me. It looks like it's breaking. Her skin is full of cracks and is chipping away in shards, like she's no more than a fabricated doll. I can see the concentrated evil seeping out of the crevices, turning into her black smoke form. It's a slow process, but it appears the more dark energy the physical body loses, the weaker it becomes.

Darkness inhales sharply and finally focuses her attention on me, the purple eyes ignite with hatred. And even if I'm really feeling apprehensive on the inside, the outside version of me doesn't want to show it and instead decides to talk... like it always does when I'm feeling this way, "you're not looking too good. Can I get you anything, sweetheart?"

Darkness cocks her head to the side, smirking, "you think you've got me beat? You think this," she gestures to her shattering state, "has me stymied?" Her voice remains the sweet innocent one it always takes, the one that makes me want to slap her across the face.

"I wonder if I did, if she'd break? Completely shatter?"

But as tempting as it is, if she totally shatters, than she'd be out and about in the world. And of course we don't want that.

"I think your deteriorating body has you stymied." I retort, cocking an eyebrow.

She giggles quietly and a few shards break away from her cheek. I can kinda see inside the hole in her face and it appears to be hollow inside.

"She really is just a fabricated doll."

"Oh, no, no, no, sweetheart. This is only a minor setback." She says confidently, "if I created a new form once, I can do it again." Her tone is so nonchalant, like she doesn't care about the fact that Lloyd took the golden power from her.

I cross my arms and glare down at her, "and how exactly are you planning on doing that? You do realize that I'm not letting you get out a second time."