𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐄
⋆⋅✧⋅⋆
(sun's vengeance)
𝐈t was as though a dark cloud had snatched her into its grasp. Her airways had been pinched in its tight hold over her throat to the point where she lay on the brink of consciousness but loose enough to where she'd never succumb to the tender kiss of death. She was suffocating, no, drowning in the darkness. Trapped in its tide and tumbling aimlessly through the dark sea. She clawed her hands through the smoke and screamed her throat raw but no matter how hard she fought, it merely dissolved under her touch only to form back stronger. There was nobody to help her. No hero rushing to save the damsel in distress. She was trapped in her own personal purgatory paying the toll for the heavy weight of her sins.
Nyx supposed she deserved it. She had never been a saint. No matter how hard she tried to be good, it was simply a title she could never obtain. She is a sinner through and through and no amount of good deeds could change that. The devil has had its' claws on her since the day she was brought into this world and its puncturing hold would never cease its tight grip, not until the day when she draws her final breath. She's long known this.
Redemption and kindness were simply not created for her. She would never be worthy of them. Not in this lifetime. Not after the things she has done and the lives she's ruined. Her sole purpose on this Earth is to be the merciless shadow plaguing the light in the world and turning it cold. Anything she dared to touch becomes polluted and when the poison becomes too much they simply shrivel beneath her touch. Nobody was safe from her destruction, not even those she loves most. The poison does what it wishes and she'd long abandoned trying to control it. For that alone, she deserved every little hell thrust upon her. Every nightmare, every haunting image, every echo of past voices, and every ache that weighed upon her heart. She deserved it all and more.
And Ren...God Ren.
It was his intended destiny to die at her hand. It is a point thrust into every fabric of time and one that can never be reversed. His death was written in the stars and in every universe she would always kill him.
She had betrayed him again. Left him to die without so much of a second thought because all that clouded her mind was saving herself. Of course, she had been selfish at the one time she needed to be selfless. Why wouldn't she be? All she ever cared about was herself. It didn't matter the amount of love he had shown her or how willing he was to go to war and break his own morals because of her. He betrayed everything he stood for. He went against Theo, their own flesh and blood, and she couldn't even will herself to say thank you. He didn't deserve it.
He didn't deserve it!
Five cautiously approached Nyx's motionless figure as she lay on the ground in the alleyway beside him. He didn't understand what was happening. One minute they were all standing outside the theatre in a circle with one another's hands held tightly and the next he was falling from the sky. He had tried to grab ahold of Nyx in their descent to the ground but she was too far from his grasp and it all happened much too fast for him to reach her. But that wasn't what scared him. What scared him was the stillness that had taken hold of her. She hadn't moved since colliding with the ground. Didn't even make a sound at the harsh collision.
Blood twined itself into the fabric of her shirt, mixing with the black to create dark splotches on her attire. Even though he couldn't necessarily see the red on her clothes, he could make out the mass stain of the substance. It stuck to her arm, the one he had watched her use to drive the knife into her brother's chest again and again, and spattered across her face. It was a dangerous thing; the red. It came in such a mass he couldn't distinguish whether any of it was her own and just the thought of even a drop of it coming from her own body sent chills down his spine.
"Nyx?" Her name cautiously left his lips as he slowly crouched beside her.
His heart hammered widely within his chest, drowning out any and all other sounds around them until the only thing he could hear was the harsh thump, thump, thump of the organ. What if she had been injured in her fight against Theo? What if she wasn't just knocked out? What if she was dying? What if she was dead?
No!
No. He wouldn't think like that. He wouldn't allow his mind to go there. But still, it nagged at him with such ferocity that he couldn't ignore the thoughts no matter how badly he wanted to. He tried to silence his mind and when that didn't work he screamed within his own head. But nothing seemed to be working for the intrusive thoughts managed to scream louder over even the sound of his hammering heart.
But then he heard it. Faintly. So faint he thought his mind to have created the sound on its own to cause some form of peace in the war raging within him. But then it sounded again. A small shuttering inhale of air that had not come from his own lungs. Immediately everything stopped. The thoughts, the loud heartbeat, the fear.
He listened again.
There it was once more. The faint sound of her breathing. It was quick and jagged, nothing that sounded normal but it was there nonetheless. It was there. Relief flooded his system, relaxing his nerves as he let out the breath of air he had subconsciously been holding in. His hand trembled as he raised it to brush her hair out of her face. Her brows had been pulled together and a sharp frown tugged on the corners of her lips. His relief then slowly melted into sorrow once he realized the state she lay in. A slight tremble had grasped ahold of her body and her fingers twitched every other second. The shadows clung tightly to her arms but the darkness was brittle and folded under his touch as his fingers slowly traveled up them. What they left in their wake was something that caused Five's heart to stop entirely.
Burns.
All the way from her wrist to her forearm. That was when he realized that they were all over. Some on the side of her neck, face, and he was certain that if he lifted her shirt he'd also find them to be on her stomach and chest. They weren't as severe as they should have been. He could tell from the difference in marks on her face to the ones on her arms. The ones across her face were further along healed than those on her arms. No doubt the work of the shadows.
The darkness is a friend to her; a second home. It takes care of her as though she were a part of it. It heals her whenever she gets hurt and if needed defends her on its own. He had witnessed it try to heal her when Theo had killed her all those years ago; watched as the shadows wrapped themselves around her motionless body again and again trying desperately to save her to no avail
"Nyx?" He asked again, his thumb slowly gliding across her cheek. "Nyx, wake up." He slowly pulled her head into his lap, gently passing his fingers through her hair. "Nyx?"
She suddenly shot up, her head nearly smacking into Five's had he not backed up in time. Her chest heaved with every breath she took and her eyes had been blown wide. She was quick to scramble to her feet. Her gaze frantically switched all around her as her hands patted down her skin. The pain of her injuries had swallowed her senses whole, causing her mind to feel fuzzy and her eyesight to spiral.
Darkness swept into her skin weaving itself tightly around her body as some kind of defense mechanism. Five took a cautious step back, debating on whether or not to try and calm her or to allow the shadows a try first. Her darkened eyes dropped to her hands, the deep crimson still sticking to them. That was when she became aware of its presence all across her body. It was sticky as it clung to her skin, hugging her so tightly that it nearly suffocated her in its embrace. A strangled cry of sorts fell past her lips as she viciously rubbed her hands against her pants. But the red never disappeared. It merely smudged and spread further across her palms.
She felt disgusting, sick even. Everything felt wrong. She needed the blood gone. She needed it gone now. Her heart was beating too fast, the blood was too sticky, the pain was too much. She couldn't breathe.
She couldn't breathe.
"Nyx."
Five's voice was much too far away for her to hear. It became drowned out by her panic as she desperately clawed at the neckline of her shirt to pull it away from her skin. But no matter how hard she tugged it only seemed to tighten. A strangled scream of sorts tore up her throat in her panic-fueled irritation.
"Hey! Hey!" Hands held tightly to either side of her face, forcing her to look in the direction of whom they belonged to. Five couldn't stop the frown from hugging tightly to his lips as she looked at him. But even then her eyes remained unfocused, instantly switching from his image the second they had met his own. "It's okay," He tried to coax her as her frown deepened. She ripped herself away from him but Five was quick to pull her back. "Look at me." Her breathing seemed to grow more ragged. "Breathe," He spoke gently as he smoothed his hand over her hair. "Breathe. You're alright."
She blinked a few times before her eyes settled on his face. He knew she still wasn't there, not entirely despite the focus that had taken hold of her vision. "You're safe, Nyx." Her lower lip began to quiver and he could tell she was fighting against the tears that threatened to prick her eyes. "Just breathe."
Her voice fell shakily from her lips as she spoke just barely above a whisper. "I killed them."
"I know."
"I didn't want to hurt Ren. I-I didn't...Why didn't I-" Her words slowly dropped from her lips, the words disappearing on her tongue as her eyes looked behind Five to the alleyway they both now stood in. Wherever it was, it wasn't where they were before. "W-where are we?"
Five slowly lowered his hands from her face. "We failed to stop the apocalypse," He grimly explained, his eyes cautiously roaming across her face as though trying to distinguish whether or not he should be allowing her to change the heavy topic of her brother's death. He knew what she would inevitably do. She'd use this new setting to clear her mind of whatever it was she went through and bottle up her emotions so she didn't need to face them. This would be her distraction. "I jumped us back in time but..."
The soft sound of a whirring caught both their attention, halting anything more Five had planned on saying. But the whirring was only the beginning for shortly after followed the mass groupings of multiple bangs echoing throughout the air. The sounds shook the street and vibrated against the walls causing Nyx to jump within her own skin. Her eyes widened as she snapped her head to the end of the alleyway to find the street before them to be full of debris. Some buildings were on fire, others completely destroyed. Bullet holes shot through almost every street sign and poster in sight while fire danced through the street in small groups of flames. But what piqued her interest the most was the full force of the military marching through the street alongside a tank. They all rushed forward, their sights set on their mysterious targets Nyx couldn't see. Battle cries spewed from their lips and their guns were pressed tightly into their shoulders with such ferocity Nyx would assume them fighting for their lives.
"What the..." She muttered as her eyes snapped up to the sky to see a silver jet flying above them on its way to bomb a city a few miles out.
They were standing in a warzone. How the hell did they get in a warzone?
Five suddenly ran past her and out of the alley towards the open street where the battle was at its peak. Her eyes widened even further as she moved to rush after him. A cry of pain tore up her throat at the movement but she pushed past the agony each step provided her. She had to reach him before he got himself shot or worse. "Five!" The shadows were quick to comply with her desires and jumped in front of his figure to shield him from getting struck by the many bullets shooting into the ground beside him. "What the hell are you doing?! You can't just run out like that!" She sternly scolded.
But he was much too focused on the newspaper in his hand for his mind to comprehend what she was saying to him. "Look," Was all he said as he turned to her, pointing his finger to a spot on the paper. "Soviets attack the U.S.," He read aloud, shaking his head as he looked at the destruction around them in disbelief. "This can't be right."
It was clear to Nyx as she looked around that whatever this war was, it held no sympathy for the people. All around them soldiers fought in the name of battle, they did anything and everything to kill the opposing side not bothering to care for the citizens laying hurt in the street or the lack of cover provided. They stripped themselves of their own identity, their only purpose now being to kill.
"What the hell did we do now?" Five asked no one in particular, dread weighing heavy in his tone.
A loud bang, one never meant for the delicacy of Nyx's ears suddenly shot through the air. It echoed all throughout her mind, clashing against her brain and skull. The force of the noise knocked her off her feet, causing her to collide with the ashy ground. She couldn't even recall getting there. One minute she was standing and the next she was lying flat against the street with a nasty ring filling her ears. A groan rumbled up her throat as her hand rubbed at her temples. Five was quick to recover from the firing of the bomb and latch onto Nyx, using his body as a shield to cover her from whatever may come their way. But she was much too focused on the sight before them to comprehend that he was asking her if she was alright.
She couldn't take her eyes off it. Klaus with an army of ghost soldiers, Vanya floating in the sky her skin a ghostly white glow as she quite literally tore apart a missile. Her brows furrowed together in confusion as she watched Luther soar through the sky and land on the ground in front of Klaus to take an explosive to the back and shield his brother. A guy glowing blue stood atop one of the remaining intact buildings, tentacles draping from his stomach and onto the street below snatching every person that moved past them into their tight grasp. Her gaze switched to her left to find Allison smirking slightly at the sight of three soldiers' heads blowing up before her eyes and finally Diego who swirled through the air, somehow managing to dodge multiple bullets firing his way. His eyes landed on her and Five as his feet landed on the car he now stood on. A bewildered look formed on his face as he squinted as though he were trying to piece together if it was really them.
"Nyx?" He had asked but his eyes were quick to switch to Five and the sight of their brother seemed to spark anger from within his chest. Of course, he shows up now after all this time of leaving them to fend for themselves. "Five! Where the hell have you been?! You sick son of a bitch!"
Nyx let out a heavy sigh as twin knives formed in her hands. She knew what was to come. She and Five would join this battle not because she wanted to fight but because he felt he had to. Realistically speaking, she was in no physical condition to fight. She could hardly walk and could barely see straight as it is but there was no avoiding the situation that had been thrust upon them. There was no turning back. "I take it we're joining the fight?" She asked as she turned her head to Five.
"I am," He corrected her, his eyes darting across her face with a worried and concerned expression. "You stay here. You're in no condition to fight," He ordered causing her to raise a brow at him.
"Who are you to tell me what condition I am in?" She challenged causing Five to sigh.
"I saw the burns, Nyx. You're hurt." He stepped closer to her, gently placing his hand on the back of her head as he kissed her forehead. "Please stay put."
But before he could advance forward and Nyx could retaliate against his words, a hand suddenly latched onto both their shoulders, stopping each of them. Her head instantly snapped back behind her to where an older version of Hazel than the one she was used to stood. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she took in the sight of his white hair and wrinkled face. "What the fuck happened to you?"
But he ignored her question and instead said, "If you two want to live, come with me."
Five stared at Hazel with as much confusion as Nyx. "What the hell's going on?" He questioned, his tone demanding an answer.
"No time to explain," Hazel dismissed as he pointed a finger up to the sky. Both Nyx and Five followed their gazes up his finger and to the sky where at least six bombs were dropping down upon them. Her eyes widened dramatically as a fierce panic swept into her heart. The darkness already began to form around her setting up a wall of protection that would no doubt crumble under the weight of the flames about to come. "Those are nukes, old-timer."
Five's eyes drifted from the nukes headed their way to his unsuspecting family who continued on fighting, completely oblivious to their impending doom. They were going to die. Again. And once more he was helpless to stop it. "W-what about my family?" He asked.
"You can't save them if you're dead."
It killed Five to leave them. Knowing that his family was going to die was never something he took lightly. It followed him wherever he went and haunted many of his nights. And knowing it was going to happen again struck something in his heart. But in the end Hazel was right. He couldn't save them here sitting on the cusp of an apocalypse.
So just like that, the Umbrella Academy was right back where they started.