Walking alongside his fellow outskirts rat, an uncomfortable silence weighed between the two as they moved, neither of them knowing exactly how to start the conversation. Additionally, Sunny wasn't exactly sure how he was going to explain what he had brought her along to do in the first place.
From his perspective, Effie and Kai were cowards, although he wouldn't blame them, nor would he even direct any negative emotions towards them, it was a simple fact of the situation. Frankly, he applauded them for their cowardice. However, at the end of the day their cowardice hadn't rewarded them in the slightest.
"Why did you let yourself be bullied?"
Sunny's head snapped in her direction as he stared at her awkwardly, the answer preparing itself to be spilled from his lips in moments as he continued walking.
"Atonement, I guess? I figured since I've spent most of my life taking lives and hurting others, I deserved to be on the receiving end for even a little. And at the same time, I was also trying to experience what a 'normal life' felt like. Quite contradictory, no?"
"You could have killed him at any point you wanted, you could have destroyed the entire school just for looking at you the wrong way."
"Could have killed him? Ah, that's how you see it, no? Caster is dead, I killed him already. As for the rest of the school? Why would I kill people who did nothing wrong to me? I'm not a m…I'm not evil?"
His last statement came as more of a question to himself than a proclamation of his honour. Frankly, he had expected more of a reaction from Jet upon receiving knowledge that one of her students had died, but instead she simply looked forward, swinging her scythe lazily as she meandered forward.
"Where are we going?" Jet asked, finally taking in Sunny's features as he continued to walk. He had changed drastically since they first met, not only was he drastically more muscular, but his hair had grown out and had been dyed white. It wasn't an unwelcome change, quite the opposite.
"We're going to collect Effie and Kai, and we're going to make them disappear through Eubin. Once that's done, I need you to answer a few questions for me."
The prospect of making people disappear wasn't a comfortable one, even despite her rapidly increased strength, Jet had never taken a human life before. Watching Sunny singlehandedly decimate three hundred thousand people in a single sitting had ingrained a deep-seated fear within her soul that she refused to show, and thus, any statement he made that even alluded to murder made her sick.
'I don't know if I can go on with the plan blondie, he might be onto me.' Jet thought to herself, suppressing a shiver as Sunny turned to face her. "You're staring." He commented pointedly, not bothering to allow her to reply as he turned to face forward.
Finally, the two found themselves in a clearing, right where their camp was as the mood shifted imperceptibly. Jet felt her grip on her scythe tighten slightly as she stared at him with an awkward expression. "If you wanted to kill me, you could have done it a thousand times before we got here."
Her comment was nervous, each one of her instincts telling her to flee as quickly as possible yet she stayed her hand. "Why would I kill you, Jet? Never mind, the mood is ruined anyway, well I guess it wasn't good to begin with, so I'll make things clear. If you lie to me, I will cut off one of your limbs."
---
An uncomfortable silence settled in the hallway as taskmaster's manic screams quickly died out. They could all tell he wasn't bluffing; through unknown means he had the ability to make the entire citadel explode therefore nullifying all their efforts.
Additionally, he was strong enough to easily break Eubin's wires. If there was one thing they knew, it was that this boy wasn't normal.
Seeing as none of them would respond to his words immediately, taskmaster sighed before running his hand across his mask before turning around and making his way towards the door. Pushing it open, they were greeted by the sight of a single chair with a piece of machinery settled above it as speakers surrounded it in an ominous fashion.
"Go on, take a seat Nephis."
Without giving her a chance to speak further, he simply shoved her inside before shutting the door behind her. "Did you not learn anything about consent? You need to ask before you put your hands on a woman." Hel commented dryly, causing taskmaster to cock his head to the side.
"Co…sent? What's that? You don't ask before you kill, nor do you ask animals before you slaughter them to eat. It's the same thing, no? I'm superior to you so I'll do as I like with your body."
"You sound like a rapist." Eubin commented, almost laughing at the hilarity of what taskmaster said. "Actually, he kind of does!" Jessica laughed, causing giggles to resound among the group as taskmaster stared at them impassively before turning to the door.
Suddenly, a shrill shriek emanated throughout the hallway as taskmaster turned to face the group. "Someone seems like they're having a nice time!" He giggled as he watched Eubin instantly approach the door. In a split second, pressure weighed across their shoulders as taskmaster's empty eyes hidden behind his mask bored into their souls.
"If you want to force your way past me, you should have brought Lost from Light or Valor's white ghost. Not to mention, did you forget how I can make this entire building explode?"
His words were so rational that it appeared mocking, but not even one of the sisters missed the fact that he implied that only two people who were almost universally agreed upon to be the strongest in the world could force their way past him.
"We'll stay put, but if you do anything funny, I'll rip your head clean off your shoulders." Eubin commented with a frown. The only response she received was a brief shrug of his shoulders as he turned towards the door, listening in intently for the noises that Nephis uttered.
It was clear she wasn't having an excellent experience.
---
Within the room sat Nephis, her entire head enveloped by an array of machinery that was too complex for an untrained mind to fully understand as information flew into her mind. Her view was filled with white, pure milky white with mirrors that reflected a form everywhere.
It wasn't a form unfamiliar to her, rather it was one she had grown quite accustomed to.
Sunny.
She was seeing through his eyes, although she was unable to feel exactly what he was feeling, the sense of terror that was being implanted into her mind could not be shaken. His blank expression was reflected into a seemingly infinite number of mirrors, blood flowing from his hands as he laid prone in a cage.
Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?
A question repeated infinitely, a question never ceasing. Constantly Sunny was greeted with abuse as Morgan's flowing black hair came into view, her vermillion eyes settling upon his prone form as she crouched down to meet his eyes.
She stared at him for a moment, studying his form with an expression unreadable to even the most trained eyes as she sat down next to him. Usually, Nephis would expect Sunny to leap at her, intent on taking her life in the most horrid manner possible.
But he remained still.
Cupping his face, Nephis found her eyes boring into Morgan's as she stared at him with a slight smile the feeling of her finger running across Sunny's face was lost on her, yet her mind allowed her to fill in the gaps. From what Nephis observed, Morgan was oddly gentle with him, in a way she didn't expect from someone as cruel and vile as her.
"You could just give in you know? Stay with me, you said it yourself that you're my property. So why won't you just concede, stay with me and everything will be ok."
Manipulation.
She was using herself as the best possible alternative. An escape. It made Nephis feel disgusted, and yet even she wasn't sure that she wouldn't have fallen for something like this. After all, from the looks of things Sunny had been there for what felt like months.
"Why do you keep resisting?" Morgan's voice echoed through her mind once more, the scene changing immediately as it shifted to Morgan sitting atop Sunny, straddling him as she held down his arms with surprising force.
She was younger, and so was Sunny. This level of psychological and emotional abuse had been going on longer than she had known, it was no wonder that Sunny was so averse to physical contact.
The dull sound of a punch making contact with his stomach resonated through her ears. "She's hurting him." She breathed out, watching as Morgan took sick pleasure in the pain that Sunny felt as she landed another blow to his stomach. "Don't you get it, there's no escape, you belong to me now!"
A gun clicked; a bullet loaded within its chamber.
It was pressed directly against his palm. Slowly lowering herself down, her face came closer to his till Nephis was sure she would be breathing the same air Morgan was should she have been there.
"No one will want you; nobody will love you. Only me, only I do! You're a monster, my monster, I made you this way so I'll be the only one who can love you!"
In the next moment, she kissed him.
"She's disgusting! She's forcing herself on him the disgusting harlot!" Nephis growled to herself, her body physically trying to resist the forceful display of affection that was inflicted upon her dearest companion.
"You're the reason he can't love himself! You're the reason he can't express himself like he should!" At this point, Nephis low growls increased in volume, almost responding to her plights, the machine that firmly wrapped itself around her head rumbled, responding to her queries with a simple statement.
"Pain emulation, 30%. Begin final phase."
Before Nephis could comprehend what happened, the scene before her changed shape. Morgan was standing before Sunny in a room that appeared similar to a medieval blacksmith's station. Sunny's arm was being firmly held to a slab of black stone, unable to move despite his strength as a man covered in protective gear made their way towards him.
He was holding a piece of metal in his hands, shaped exactly in an identical shape to the tattoo which Sunny wore across his right arm. "If you don't want to accept your place as my property, I'll brand you and prove it." Without another word, iron so hot that it was almost molten was pressed against his skin.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.
Overwhelming scalding pain shot through Nephis' body; her arms convulsed as her eyes nearly rolled back into her head. Nothing had ever caused such violent levels of pain to course through her body her entire life. Not Mordret's stinging blows, not Morgan's lethal offence, nothing.
"Stay conscious. Stay conscious. Stay conscious. Stay conscious. Stay conscious. Stay conscious. Stay conscious. Stay conscious." Like a mantra she whispered it to herself continuously, her body convulsing like a woman electrocuted as she shook within her chair.
Her hands clenched open and closed, her mind attempting to drift to whatever other experience she could think of. Sunny's screams that echoed throughout her mind made it infinitely harder to take her mind off the pain. It appeared like it would stretch on infinitely, until it finally stopped.
Machines whirred once more, raising itself off her head as she finally was allowed to grace the sights of the room. Several camera's showing different areas of the world, cold and calculating in their disposition. Some showed the sights of the poor, others showed sights of Sunny's fight against Mordret, yet each of them had a certain relevance.
The citadel was themed after Sunny.
Sitting up from the chair, Nephis exhaled, her body still shaking from the sheer pain she had just experienced as she looked around. "Whoever did this have been watching Sunny from a young age. But the only people who could have done this were… my parents."
And suddenly, her white hair felt particularly disgusting.
Stumbling out of the door, she took in a deep breathe and laid her eyes on the taskmaster, who stared at her with a curious expression before jumping up and down with barely concealed amazement as he clapped his hands.
"Wow! Amazing, amazing! Knowing who you'd pick, I didn't expect you to actually live through the experience! Wow! I know I toned the machine down but still! How amazing, excellent, shocking, surprising, stupendous, elating, flabbergasting!"
His voice only drained into the background as Nephis fell forward, only to be caught by Eubin who stared at her with a neutral expression before her gaze quickly softened. "You did well." Was the only response she got as all eyes present trained onto taskmaster as he jogged forward.
Lifting Nephis' shaking form into her arms, Eubin and the rest paced after him, for someone so young, he moved surprisingly fast. It wasn't anything they couldn't keep up with, but still it proved to be quite a challenge keeping up with him while keeping an eye on Eubin.
Soon enough, they found themselves in a large room, each of the walls littered with spikes ready to impale anyone who made contact with them. In the room, taskmaster sat prone in its centre, settling two armguards covering his forearms as he took his mask off his face.
Onyx black hair, the lower part of his face distorted and horrendous, looking like a cruel amalgamation of different people settled into one. That was the sight they were looking at.
And yet, despite everything. Despite the crude nature of his very being, there was only one person who possessed features even close to the vile entity that sat before them.
"Is that Sunny?" Hel asked tentatively, looking around at the women around her with curiosity. "Don't be stupid, Sunny uses knives. Not to mention, he's fucking ugly." Clara replied crudely causing Jessica to wince as she studied his gaze for a few moments more.
"It looks like someone tried to make a clone of Sunny and failed." Was Eubin's calm reply. Gasps rang out through the room, but before they could continue taskmaster clapped loudly to get their attention.
"You hit the nail on the head! I'm a clone, a loathsome, odious clone that has been grafted out of the bodies of my own dead family! Am I a person? Am I a group of people? Am I Sunny? Who am I? Who knows!? Frankly, who cares!?"
Sighing, taskmaster stood up slowly, slamming his shields together with a smile. A rumble quickly followed, each of the walls which stood ninety feet away from them at all sides began to slowly close in on them.
"And for the final trial, you must kill me. The faster my heart beats, the faster the walls close in, and if you try run, the citadel will explode! Amazing right! It's a fitting end for someone like me, dying without purpose, discarded in a dark room, no? But the catch is, if I win? I get to kill you all and extract your memories of Sunny, and soon, I'll kill him too. I'll become complete."
Clara's eyes narrowed, each of them pulling out their weapons as they prepared for battle. "You really think you can beat all of us? You're outmatched in more ways than one." She replied, her body tensing.
In response, he slowly approached them with a broad smile on his face.
"I'll have you know, I'm actually quite strong you know."
---
Sitting distantly in the treetops, was a sixteen-year-old boy with glowing golden hair. His piercing blue eyes and seemingly gentle gaze did well to contrast the growing pile of corpses that were seated just beneath the tree he sat in. As he released a yawn, he gazed calmly up at the blue sky with a sigh.
"Sometimes I forget how boring killing people can be."