(Y/N)'s POV
"Problem solved" I said simply, looking down at the lifeless lump on the ground. "How's it lookin'?" I asked, looking down at my now very open wound.
"Well, bleeding black isn't exactly a sign of humanity..." Dr Smiley noted, scooping the growth into a large glass jar. "Hope you don't mind, but I'll be keeping this for analysis" she added, looking at it from various angles as I ran my left hand over my face.
"Fine by me, as long as this hole gets closed" I responded, taking a deep breath in an attempt to not focus on the pain.
"Wh-what happened to your voice? And your eyes!?" Lazari exclaimed, now stood in front of me.
As Dr Smiley did some final check ups on my open wound, I quickly understood what Lazari meant when she mentioned my eyes previously. I was quiet for a second, but I eventually decided that it was only fair to give the two who helped me out an explanation of a sorts. "Hm? Oh yeah, that came back" I thought aloud, clearing my throat a little as I reverted my voice back to normal. "It's basically camouflage, helps me hide my identity when I've gotta use my powers" I explained, blinking a few times to help change my eyes back to normal.
"Hide your identity? Why do that?" Dr Smiley asked, wheeling back over to me in her chair.
"I'd prefer not to be associated with demonic activity. I get the feeling I'd make a lot more enemies otherwise" I stated, an uncomfortable feeling shooting up my spine as Smiley ran her fingers along the inner walls of my wound.
"So?" I asked, watching Dr Smiley stand back up and grab some things off of her desk. "How's it lookin'?" I repeated, once again looking down at the wound myself.
"No idea" Dr Smiley admitted, drenching a cotton ball in hydrogen peroxide. "It feels like a regular open wound, but the Mistress's confirmation definitely means it's demonic in nature" she explained, picking the cotton up with a pair of forceps.
"Lazari? Any input?" I asked, looking over to the red faced girl.
"Looks... tasty..." she mumbled, licking her lips.
"That's not good" I muttered, my focus allowing me to ignore the stinging pain being swapped inside my wound. "Doc... little help?" I asked, nudging Smiley and nodding towards Lazari.
"*sigh* And here I was hoping a high school would help avoid hunger problems..." Dr Smiley muttered, standing up and walking over to Lazari. Smiley waved her hand in front of Lazari's face a few times and snapped her fingers, hoping to draw her attention. Lazari seemed fixated on me, and a pit began to form on my stomach when she licked her top lip. As I watched her stance shift, I quickly readied myself for a potential attack. I opened my mouth to try and voice my concerns to Smiley, but when I tried no words came out.
At least, no words of my own.
Once Lazari stepped closer, I felt Zalga speak up in my place. The words that were spoken were incomprehensible, and yet it felt like the whole world had fallen silent. But regardless, whatever was said had stopped Lazari dead in her tracks. From the looks of things, her body was in the process shifting into another form before Zalga stepped in. She quickly reverted back and slumped forward, seemingly having all of the energy sucked out of her. "The hell was that?" I muttered, watching on as Smiley caught Lazari before she fell over.
"Just a little assistance. Can't have you getting eaten now, can we?" Zalga chimed in.
'I see, thanks' I thought simply, walking back over to Smiley's desk.
A hush fell over the room for a moment, but as I began to dress my wound Zalga spoke up once again. "What? No thanks for the Big Momma?" She asked.
''Big momma'? That's a new one...' I thought, holding back a laugh. "I already thanked you though. Didn't you hear it?" I asked, speaking aloud for clarity.
"*tsk* Your lips didn't even move, (Y/N)" Zalga huffed, evidently more than a little upset. "I know men aren't the greatest at being called out, but while we're working together pleas-"
"No. Seriously" I interrupted. "Can't you hear my thoughts?" I wondered.
"Nope. I tried some mind reading after my power up, but that avenue came up short" she explained.
"I assume since Nightmare and I officially broke up, the details of our relationship contract have been voided" Zalga noted.
"'Relationship contract'?" I repeated. "What's that?" I asked as I assisted Smiley in lifting Lazari onto a bed.
"Think of it as a prenuptial, except it's without the marriage part and it's more... supernatural by comparison" she explained simply as I took a step back and gave the doctor some room to work with.
"How so?" I asked, curious about how demonic negotiations worked.
"As demons, we're obviously born with more power than humans" she began. "But, these powers differ from demon to demon. They are generally influenced by your bloodline however" she added.
"Does that mean you and Slenda have similar powers?" I asked.
"Yeah, there's a few" Zalga confirmed. "We can both teleport, we're both uniquely tall and we can harm weaker beings with an airborne disease" she explained.
'Given the description, that's probably 'The Sickness'...' I recalled, thinking back to watching Marble Hornets.
"Oh, and we're both telepaths" she added casually.
"Yeah, I figured that one" I stated casually, pulling up a chair and sitting besides Lazari's bed.
"So what was in your contract anyway?" I asked, wanting to fill the ambient silence.
"Basic stuff really" Zalga answered simply. "Mutual mind reading, no physical abuse outside of the bedroom, no cheating on each other. You know, normal conditions" she listed nonchalantly.
"Right..." I agreed, cringing at the thought of Nightmare and Zalga partaking in BDSM. 'I'm not one to kink shame... but with Nightmare? Was there no one better?' I wondered.
"I certainly hope Laz didn't hear me say that..." Zalga muttered, now realising that we were within spitting distance of her youngest daughter.
"From the looks of things, I think she's gonna be asleep until lunch" Dr Smiley chimed in, helping to change the subject. "Do you know what class Lazari has for third period?" She asked.
"Gym class. It's second and third today" I answered simply. "It's one of those double length periods, we get them for science sometimes too" I added, assuming Smiley was unfamiliar with the school system.
"I see" Smiley responded. "At least that saves me the hassle of emailing one of her teachers, making up an excuse to miss a whole period sounds like a pain in the ass..." she groaned, earning a small laugh from me.
"I'd count this as a lucky break then" I noted with a light chuckle. "If you count me almost getting eaten lucky" I added.
"Oh don't be such a baby, she didn't even get to bite you" Zalga chimed in.
"Eh, good point I guess" I admitted, my mind flashing back to the time Jackie nearly did eat me.
"*sigh* Guess I gotta go back to class now..." I groaned, rising to my feet with a sigh. "How many laps did I do?" I muttered, hoping my brain kept track whilst I was in my dreamscape.
"Don't bother" Smiley stated, now sat at her desk. "Lazari brought you up here, right?" She asked, spinning her chair to look over to me.
"Yeah... so?" I wondered, clearly not following along.
"Since it was you who got brought here, there's no real reason for you to hurry back" she explained, leaning on her hand as she spoke. "And if anyone asks about Laz, we can just say that I asked her to stay for an unspecified reason" she added, her cheeks rising to note her masked smile.
"Is... is that allowed?" I asked confusedly.
"Yep, and with no bearing on your attendance to boot" she confirmed.
"So take the time to figure out how to separate yourself from the Mistress" Smiley instructed. "You can take the bed that faces the TV, see the one?" She asked, pointing behind me. I turned to see a CRT mounted onto the upper back right corner of the room, pivoted slightly to better face the furthest bed against the left wall. "I'll even give you the remote" Smiley added, the familiar clicking noise of a TV remote sounding out as she spoke. I turned back to her and accepted the remote with a smile.
"Thanks, but are you sure you don't want help cleaning up?" I asked, noting the pool of black blood that was still on the floor.
"I'll be alright, thank you. Since I don't know when we can go home, I'll do some analysis on your blood here for the time being" she explained. "And I'll need the whole puddle" she added with a chuckle.
"I can at least hel-"
"She's more than capable, (Y/N)" Zalga cut in sternly.
"I never claimed she wasn't! It's just-"
"If you're gonna squabble, can you at least do it at the other end of the room?" Smiley interjected, her brow now furrowed in irritation. "Otherwise, you might wake Sleeping Beauty behind you" she added, nodding towards Lazari.
"*sigh* Alright, alright" I conceded, shuffling off to the distant bed.
Whilst Lazari gently snored away and Smiley got to work, I decided to strike up a conversation with Zalga after drawing the room-side curtain. "So, any idea on how we separate?" I asked, drawing the room side curtain plopping myself down on the end of the bed.
"No idea" Zalga answered plainly.
"I see..." I muttered, looking up at the TV. "Got a plan for how fix your portals?" I asked, hoping to have a shred of a plan before the school day ended.
"Dunno, how do I start fixing that?" She wondered.
"Reverse the magic and start from scratch?" I suggested, flicking through the limited TV channels.
"We'd have to evacuate the whole pocket dimension first, and since the portals don't work we'd have to separate before I could even try to get everyone out" she explained, resulting in us both sighing simultaneously.
"Welp... no point in stressing about it right now" I muttered, taking my shoes off and shuffling back to lay on the bed. "I get the feeling things'll fall into place when we get there" I added, flicking through the channels once again.
"Maybe so, but either way I'll still try and come up with that plan I mentioned earlier" Zalga stated, a somewhat dejected tone in her voice.
"Smart" I responded simply, setting the remote down after I had reached the news channel.
"Witnesses say that the man in question was, quote, 'covered in blood' and 'wielding a samurai sword'. In contrast to these grim claims however, footage from across town shows the same person performing rather heroic acts earlier on in the night" the reporter stated. After she finished speaking, the camera cut to CCTV footage of my 'night out'. There were a few short clips of some back-alley combat, thankfully contextualised by my opponents talking to their targets before I intervened. I smiled as I watched the footage, although I certainly did cringe at my poor attempts at one-liners.
'Gonna have to work on those' I noted, chuckling to myself a little. 'I'm certainly glad the coat looks cool on camera though' I noted, watching the coattails flap elegantly as I dealt out a solid tornado roundhouse.
"Despite the surprising number of criminal activities that were stopped last night, it is confirmed that this mysterious 'vigilante' is leaving his own 'calling cards' at the crime scenes" the reporter explained, a handful of images flashing onto the screen.
'I guess those sticky notes were a good idea after all, good job, past Nightmare' I reflected, admittedly still sad about the loss of the old demon.
"It was assumed that the vigilante was the 'no-killing' kind, however camera footage from 'Club Freaks' shows that that's not the case" the reporter stated, her demeanour becoming much more serious. "Please be advised that the following content will show bloody violence and gore, and should not be shown to minors" she added, the screen also displaying the warning she presumably read out.
"The hell?" I muttered, sitting up and shuffling to the end of the bed. As I got closer to the TV, I could hear the rather familiar sounds of yells, screams and combat. But once I was at the end of the bed, and the picture had become much clearer, my eyes immediately widened in horror. The old speakers poorly played a violent squelching noise, one that accompanied a video of me dismembering a pair of guards. I was stood at the bottom of a staircase, and the shaking pair were clearly no match for the katana that I wielded. A familiar feeling of disgust formed alongside the pit in my stomach, and they both only grew in size after another clip showed myself shambling across the dance floor. I was soaked in blood and I was dragging a metal bat along the ground, but there was something much more horrifying that the camera picked up.
I was smiling.
Despite the evident stab wounds in my clothes, and the sheer redness that coated my everything, my raised cheekbone were proof that beneath my mask there was a smile on my face as I weakly shuffled along the empty dance floor. "Holy-"
"Well that certainly explains the concussion" Zalga commented. "Although I'm pretty sure most of that blood isn't yours..." she added.
"I think I'm gonna hurl..." I muttered, clasping a hand over my mouth and feeling my stomach churn.
"Oh please" Zalga groaned, following her sentence with a firm gulp that forced my vomit back down. "What's gotten into you?" She asked.
"That's me on the screen!" I exclaimed, pointing at the TV. "Normal people don't kill, Zalga" I stated, my tone laced with horror and resentment.
"And you qualify as 'normal'?" She asked sarcastically.
I opened my mouth to retort, but no words came out. I had froze on the spot, Zalga's words certainly had some merit and I couldn't exactly respond. "No, but-"
"And is killing those scumbags any worse then killing Wendigos?" Zalga asked.
"Of course it is..." I said, albeit shakily. "I mean, Wendigos are just weird cryptids. They're basically just animals... right?" I added, looking down at my hands as I spoke.
"Maybe so. But my Walkers certainly aren't" she stated calmly. "And I don't remember you hesitating in the arena" she added.
"But that... that wasn't real..." I muttered, my mind being thrown into a panic as I dwelled on the thought.
"According to whom? If you killed me in there, I certainly would've died" she elaborated, causing my breath to speed up. "And I can tell you for a fact that I certainly left that scenario with less workers compared to when I entered" she added, the situation replaying in my mind.
"B-but they're... they're not-"
"Not people?" Zalga interrupted, completing my sentence for me. "If that's what you were thinking, then you are certainly mistaken" she added, much to my dismay.
I was frozen still upon learning this, and I felt a ball rise in my throat to accompany the pit in my stomach. I was mortified to learn what Zalga had told me, and the knowledge made me feel like nothing but a monster. As I stared down at my bandaged hands, I unconsciously clenched them a few times and suddenly the memories came flooding back. A painstaking headache had taken over my brain, but in mere minutes I had relived the whole nightclub massacre in its entirety. After I began to return to the present moment, I had found myself repositioned. My knees were to my chest, I had my hands clasped firmly over my ears, and my eyes were gently streaming with tears. My mouth was open, yet no sound came out. My vision was certainly blurry from the crying, but as I slowly returned to my senses my vision began to clear.
My mind remained frantic despite the memories passing, and my heart rate remained concerningly high. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, but unfortunately they had little to no effect. I racked my mind on a better method in hopes of off setting my focus, and luckily an idea popped into my head. I slowly readjusted my position and sat cross-legged on the bed. Still taking slow and deliberate breaths, I brought my hands to my lap and interlocked them into a fist. I straightened my back and sat upright, and directed all of my focus on the duration of my breaths. Thankfully, this took effect pretty quickly and after a few seconds I had finally calmed myself down.
Deep down I knew that people were going to die as a result of my vigilantism, but only now was I confronted with the fact of my own actions. I may not have remembered the events from within the nightclub, but I certainly killed numerous Shamblers without thinking twice. 'They may have been corrupted, but that doesn't mean they weren't humans' I understood, sighing defeatedly in an attempt to let out some of my building distress. 'And when you're in this line of work, precautions have to be taken' I told myself, hoping to lift some of the guilt off of my conscience. "They may have been humans before but, after whatever you did, killing then was a kindness" I stated, speaking in a low tone that didn't exactly scream confidence,
"Oh really? And how do you figure that?" Zalga inquired, more curious as opposed to antagonistic.
"When they're just shambling around, they hardly speak" I began, recalling my prison break. "But, of the words they do speak, they're words of pain and wishes of death" I explained, the pained groans of Shamblers echoing in my mind. "And since you ordered them to kill me, I had no other choice" I added, doing my best to ignore the memories.
"But can you really consider death a kindness? Do you humans not value the lives of one another?" Zalga wondered, and at this point I wasn't sure if she was merely curious or she was trying to force me to face reality.
"Do you demons live for any purpose other than to commit heinous atrocities?" I asked in return, my tone laced with anger and spite.
"Don't forget where we stand, Zalga. Don't forget what you took from me" I reminded her, speaking through gritted teeth. "Those poor people you corrupt just add fuel to the fire" I added.
"And here I was hoping we could move past something that never really happened..." she muttered.
"Never happened? Never happened?" I repeated, my eyes wide in shock.
"We're in a different time period, (Y/N). Does it really matte-"
"You'd better shut your mouth. Or I'll exorcise you myself" I interrupted, accidentally slipping into my other voice. "If you want even the slightest chance of that alliance you offered, I suggest you choose what you say very very carefully" I explained, only to be met with a stunned silence from Zalga. "Good girl. Now get back to your planning and I might just forgive you" I ordered, once again being met with silence.
After I finished speaking the news report had ended as well, now changing onto another story that I didn't particularly care about. I decided to occupy myself with something else, and since I had a while until I needed to leave the nurse's office I thought I'd do some research on the public's opinion. Taking out my phone, I quickly took to the news app and searched the term 'vigilante'. My screen was quickly filled with articles, and so I took to reading. It seemed I had garnered a lot of attention, both good and bad, from various places. The support was split about 50/50, half of them praising my actions while the other bashed my methods and called me a 'villain' and a 'menace'. A fair number of them had even taken to calling me a variety of nicknames, all of which were rather edgy or copyright infringing but flattering nonetheless.
I had skimmed through the majority of the articles after a while, but one that really caught my attention was one that was posted only an hour ago. It didn't detail my actions throughout the night, but rather the result. According to the article, the nightclub was a front for some pretty dicey mafia crimes. It was run by a 'Luca Vitale', who was a nephew of an infamous mafia don who was 'revered by the crime world'. These facts certainly caught my attention, and put me on edge the second I read them. If movies had taught me anything, it was to never mess with the mob. I read the rest of the article in suspense, but as I got nearer the end I read a line that made me smile.
'I hope the Vigilante knows what he's doing is good. I'll be forever thankful for what he did'