Ghirahim's head throbbed in pain, his mind swimming in confusion. His eyes slightly stung as he sat upright. The room he awoke in was strange. The stone walls were cracked, coated in spiderwebs. A thin fog hung above the floor, the air was thick with smoke. He stood up, snapping his fingers to summon his sword but nothing happened. There was something in this place with him. Ghirahim took a step forward and felt a shiver run down his spine, the cold nipped at his grey skin yet he ignored it. He pushed the door open and confusion engulfed his mind. He was back at the castle. The fog still hung above the carpeted floor and the torches were barely glowing.
Caution was in every step that he took down the hall, his senses strained to detect any threat closely. Again, he attempted to summon his sword but nothing happened. He reached the throne room and carefully pushed the door open, peering into the dark room. Something sat upon the throne but the shadows consumed the creature. Suddenly, a blazing flame erupted on the person's head, Ghirahim instantly recognised who it was. Master Demise. The Demon King rose from the throne, his gaze locked onto Ghirahim. Something was wrong about him, his eyes were pure white.
"Is this shape enough? Will it let me know you?" his voice was wrong. It had an echo to it. Ghirahim watched in confusion as Demise walked down the steps. "A Demon Lord from the Surface. So different from us. Not like me." it spoke as it approached him. Ghirahim's lips pulled into a scowl.
"You are not Master Demise. How dare you attempt to impose him." he growled. Demise released an unsettling chuckle
"You don't understand. If I wore your face, became you, I will rule. Let me become you ." and with that, Demise vanished into a dark mist. Ghirahim looked around to see the throne room shift. The cracks grew and dark plants sprouted from them.
He darted out the throne room into the hallway. Whatever that creature was it must be the cause of all this. Ghirahim pushed a door open to find himself in the dungeon, he saw Demise standing in front of someone. The Demon Lord focused on the scene.
"Why did you help that mortal?" he asked the figure. The individual appeared to be Ghirahim but like a shadow version of him. The Demon King reached for a dagger and gripped the side of the shadow's head, placing the dagger next to his ear. Rage flared in Demise's eyes, the dagger dug into his ear just as the two figures evaporated. Ghirahim felt his head ache from the memory.
"Keep walking." he heard someone say. The voice was different from the creature's but he knew he had to be careful in what he trusted. He pushed on, ignoring the feeling of dread claw at his bones. Pushing the door open, Ghirahim found himself in another hallway, the door he just left was gone. The doors in the hall were locked, leaving him confused as to where he could go.
"The painting of the room. Go through it." the voice spoke. He turned his head to find the painting hung up on the stone wall. The painting was of a bedroom with the furniture misplaced: the bed was on the ceiling, tables and chairs were standing on the walls, yet the built-in fireplace remained correctly in place. Slowly, Ghirahim extended his right gloved hand towards the painting and watched in confusion as his hand passed through the painting as if he dipped his hand in water.
The entire room spun as Ghirahim fell through the frame and landed on the floor of the bedroom. How was that possible? Standing up, he dusted off his clothing and took in his new surroundings. The empty fireplace was now alive with flame, throwing their warmth throughout the room.
"I must be losing my mind." Ghirahim muttered to himself as he walked towards the door.
"No, you're not losing your mind." the voice spoke again. He spun around on his heel, facing the room again. His dark eyes scanning the room for the owner of the voice.
"Where are you?" he called out to the empty room.
"Up here." Ghirahim looked up at the bed to see (Y/N) sitting on the bed, completely unfazed (or unaffected) by the confusing room. A bit of relief sparked at the sight of the familiar hatted girl.
"I heard you. Trapped in a mist of yourself with something else." she said, her eyes slightly hidden by her fringe.
"What do you mean?" he asked taking a step towards her. She looked down at him, or up in her case, and motioned to the room.
"Envy trapped you in your mind. Outside the grass sways like a sunset." she replied simply. Envy. Ghirahim remembered that name from one of the books he read. A demon from the Fade.
"So this is all in my mind?" he asked, she nodded.
"Envy wants to be you. He can only do that by killing you and stealing your face." (Y/N) explained, her figure disappeared for a moment then reappeared on one of the sideways turned tables. "He copies your memories so he can learn about you. He'll try to trick you, break you. Lies wrapped around false to make them falser." Ghirahim narrowed his gaze at her.
"Then how do I know you're really (Y/N) an not Envy?" his tone was cautious. He had to be certain this was the wide-brimmed hat-wearing Compassion Spirit he knew.
"Envy doesn't like me because he cannot copy me. Like trying to copy smoke or air, he cannot do it so he doesn't like me." she appeared on the small stool next to the fireplace. Her (E/C) eyes watched the dancing flames. "You can't stay here. Envy learns more by the minute. He wants to kill you." she gave a small look of defeat as she glanced up at the Demon Lord. "I don't want to see Envy be you. I can try and help but you need to get out." she turned her attention back to the flames. "It's better than waiting to lose your face."
The pale female disappeared in a puff of smoke as the door opened. If the demon, Envy, wants to kill Ghirahim, he was not going to go down easily. The Demon Lord wandered down the stone hall, keeping his senses on high alert for Envy. It wasn't long though before Envy's distorted voice echoed through the hall, bouncing off the walls like bees desperately trying to escape a glass jar.
"You believe that that thing of compassion can help you? When I am you, it'll be the first one to die!" Anger bubbled in Ghirahim's veins as Envy spoke. He was not going to let that happen. No harm would come to (Y/N).
"This is not your place, Envy." (Y/N)'s voice echoed. Ghirahim reached a pair of double doors that would have led to the garden and training area, it was the only way out. The garden was nothing like it should be. The plants were dying, small bird skeletons littered the ground where the grass should have been. A different figure stood in the training area. Mileena, or Envy posing as Mileena.
"So many secrets. I will know each of them." Envy's appearance as Mileena melted away and was reconstructed as a silhouette of Ghirahim. His eyes were almost the only trace of colour on it aside from the torn open mouth, that bared teeth that would put Mileena to shame, both glowed a haunting golden shade that twisted slightly, as id there was a fire inside it's chest.
"Almost there. If that pest would stop bothering me," The silhouette's voice sounded like Ghirahim's but Envy's voice echoed with it. Envy charged at him, giving Ghirahim little time to react as he barely managed to dodge the attack. He turned around to face the demon to find him gone. An arm suddenly wrapped around his torso, locking in his arms in place.
"There is something else. Something for that pest." Envy whispered into Ghirahim's pointed ear, "Does it know your true intentions of gaining its trust?" The Demon Lord threw his head back sharply, hitting it against Envy's making its grip loosen and allow his escape. An irritated growl escaped Envy at Ghirahim's action.
"Ghirahim, you need to get out." (Y/N)'s voice called out, instantly claiming all of Envy's attention, as well as Ghirahim's. The hatted girl stood on the battlements yet she sounded much closer. Once Envy spotted her, it formed a weapon in its hand and launched it at her. Before it could hit her, she was gone.
"Looking through a barrier in hatred. Others have what you want." her voice rung through the air. "The gate is the window." Ghirahim tried to understand what she meant by that, The gate is the window? He looked around, using Envy's distraction as an advantage as it tried to find (Y/N). His dark eyes landed on something on the battlements where (Y/N) once stood. A mirror. That's it! The window for envy was the gate for Ghirahim. Since his powers were disabled in this micro-verse, he used the area to his advantage. Gripping onto the rough stones of the battlement, he climbed up the wall, trying to block out the ear-splitting shrieks from Envy. As he pulled himself onto the battlement, he threw a glance over his shoulder to see Envy darting towards the battlement, leaping halfway up the wall and crawling up like a spider. Ghirahim sprinted towards the mirror, he could feel Envy's claws scraping at his back in an attempt to stop him but failed as Ghirahim went into the mirror.
I am sorry for the late update of this story. But I am grateful for the amount of reads and support this story has gotten. Thank you for reading this chapter and please give any feedback in the comments.