Something into Nothing
Who: Axel fuego_bailando, Larxene plasmabitch, Zexion book_of_mirage, Sho Minamimoto inverse_matrix
What: Sho learns why dealing with Organization XIII is generally a bad idea
When: Night 196
Warnings: HOO BOY THIS IS A GORY LOG. Definitely Rated R. Very violent, proceed with caution.
Everything was ready. Larxene had found the perfect hide out, Zexion had somehow procured a circular altar for the ritual, hell, they'd even found fancy native Rivelatian masks to conceal their identity. They wouldn't be using them this time, however. Until now, they hadn't had any success in actually producing a Nobody - it wasn't their fault that the people they'd gathered hadn't been strong enough.
But tonight, they'd succeed in producing a Nobody. Axel was positive. "You ready, Sho?"
Sho chewed his arm. The full weight of his actions was finally starting to hit him. They're going to cut my heart out, he thought to himself. I could die. And there's no Underground here to fight through. But I've died before, and maybe being out of this place'd be a relief...
But there's Kariya, and Uzuki, and the shop; and there WAS Komui and there's... ... what is there? what am I fighting for anyway? What good does killing Josh do?
He stopped chewing on his arm, and sighed, still thinking. But then there's Joshua. He's got his Composer powers here, clearly, and he's brought Shibuya here. Which means if I can get enough power to take him out... I could finally get rid of him forever. Free Shibuya. Take it back for us. End the stupid cycle. Keep us from being controlled like factoring puppets...
And again, the look of doubt on his face passed like summer clouds, replaced by a maverick grin. "It's an absolute value," he said. "Now, show me the coordinates of this place before I change my mind."
"Ah, but our escort hasn't arrived yet. Can't be seen walking in, after all." Axel took his coat off of a peg in the shop and donned it, pulling the hood up. "should be here any minute"
Larxene finally entered, mask in hand and dressed in a simple black robe. "Sorry for my tardiness, boys. Shall we go?"
"As they say, speak of the devil," said Zexion, seeming to melt out of the shadows. Sho managed not to jump, and to completely hide being scared. "One moment while I hide us. Straight invisibility, this time." Zexion simply concentrated for a few moments; the three of them seemed to shimmer slightly, but then the shimmering stopped. "There. Invisible and inaudible to anyone but each other. Shall we?"
"We shall," Axel said with confidence, giving Sho a cocky grin before stepping out the door and into the dark streets of Rivelata.
Larxene smirked and clasped her hands together, "Well, you never cease to surprise me, Zexion my dear." She smiled cutely and then walked into the street, leading the invisible quartet to the warehouse. Sho's emotions were palpable. Well.... not for long. Larxene smiled as they approached the warehouse, pulling a heart crystal out of her pocket and threw it up and down. She then opened a portal using the extra power the heart gave her and portaled them all directly into the basement. No disturbed dust, no broken locks. Very discrete
"This is it! Axel, lights, please?" She gestured to some torches and lanterns and took off her cloak.
Zexion also took off his cloak, and began attending to a large cauldron in the corner, taking a number of curious phials and bottles off the shelves and adding them to it as he lit a small fire underneath. This was where the crystals were created, in a bath of various strange minerals and herbs it had taken him weeks of careful research to find. "Sho, if you would kindly lie down on the table...?"
Axel effortlessly lit the torches, and began his own preparations, mainly preparing the table, and getting the multiple implements needed for cutting and stabbing and sterilizing them with a handful of fire. Once the tools were clean and glowing a faint red, Axel shrugged off his coat and shirt, and tied his hair back away from his face. He then picked up a dirty leather apron and put it on.
Larxene took the implements from Axel once they were cool enough to handle and laid them on a sterilized metal cart, keeping a particularly sharp obsidian knife for herself. She was, after all, the surgeon. She helped the young man up onto the table and began strapping him in. "I'm so sorry that the table is so cold.... but it'll warm up soon." She grinned rather horribly. "We're almost ready~"
Sho eyed the table with more than a little trepidation. It was huge, almost seven feet in diameter, and covered with intricate carvings. Still, he submitted to Larxene when she took him by the arm, knowing better than to resist. The carvings were deeply cut spirals, swirls, and triangles, with the table divided along the four cardinal directions and then once again between those directions.
At each direction was a differently colored crystal which sparkled slightly in the light; a different color for each direction. For a few moments, he apprecaited the artistry of it all. Gruesome though it was. Even the dark red stains in the grooves served to enhance the dark beauty of the piece. A monument to the macabre indeed.
Zexion, on the other hand, had begun to hum softly to himself, a strange, dissonant song without words. He crossed to the table then, and began to pull a number of strange tubes and wires out from underneath it. The wires were connected to the crystals. "Larxene, if you would remove Mr. Minamimoto's shirt...?"
Axel waited until Larxene had taken Sho's shirt off, rolling his shoulders and cracking his knuckles until the reaper's torso was bare. As soon as Larxene gave him the nod, Axel strode up behind Sho and roughly held him down on the table. Despite his skinny appearance, Axel was surpringly strong. However, since the ritual had not begun, Axel wasn't even doing much. The real work would come later.
Sho tried to slow his breathing. He tried to tell himself that he wasn't afraid, that this was going to be fine. He wasn't afraid. There was no fear. He laughed, a strange, nervous laugh, as he found himself thinking of Dune, of all things. I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Zexion, on the other hand, was completely calm, swabbing areas of Sho's skin as he connected the wires, digging them straight into the man's skin, hitting key pressure points and using his powers to eliminate the pain. No sense in making it hurt yet. When he'd connected all eight wires (one for each cardinal direction, for each crystal), he stepped back.
"Begin."
"No turning back now," Axel said with a cruel smile, green eyes alight with malice, before he FORCED Sho down onto the table, and turned that wicked smile to Larxene.
Larxene placed his shirt on a table across the room. He would want it later, anyway. The girl washed her hands, but didn't put on gloves. No point in it, after all. She smiled and brought her various implements to bear. "Now now, dear... I would say everything will be fine, but...." She paused, looking up then back down, a devilish smile on her lips. "This is going to hurt." And without further ado, she began her work with surgical precision.
The glassy knife was so sharp that it was almost impossible to feel, at first. But then she started digging through muscle and fat and guts, and then, then it hurt. Her fingers were covered in blood and it gushed like a babbling brook into the grooves, coloring the table red. The blood ran into holes and dripped to the floor, going down the drain located beneath it.
Sho thought about many things. He thought about the fundamental theorem of calculus; he thought of Euler's notation, Cartesian coordinates; of fractals; and at first it worked At first, there was the clarity and purity of mathematics... but then the knife went deeper. then the blood poured out over his skin and the pain began. He bit back a gasp, bit back pain, and numbers cascaded, statistics, equations, as well as the Litany. Of all things, that damn Litany from a book he'd read years ago.
: Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me...
Sho Minamimoto's fear was tangible - Axel could taste it, feel it tensing in the skin underneath his hands. The reaper wasn't struggling yet, so he still didn't have to do much work, but it would come. It always did, even in the most fearless of victims. Larxene hadn't even gotten inside the abdominal cavity yet, even though blood was pouring all over the table now. He spared a glance at Zexion, observing how the other nobody's magical preparations were going.
Zexion was chanting, quietly, his eyes closed in concentration, one of the crystals (a dark blue one in this case) in his hands. There was a faint shimmering around him, and a sharp smell similar to ozone. The crystals in the table flared to life, and energy sparked along the wires. They'd seen this before, but it seemed different this time; a curious hum began to fill the room.
Larxene looked up from her worth briefly. That was a different noise.. a different feeling all together. Was it going right this time? She shook her head and kept working, finally making her way into the abdominal cavity. Time to go up through the chest. She kept the boy's flesh peeled back using pins, like some sort of vivisection.... which, for all intents and purposes, it was. There, the diaphragm.
She would have to work fast now, or else he would go braindead before the heart was free. But she was skilled with a blade. She took another one from the table and cut more, feeling around in the cavity. Spasming lungs... somewhere in between... There, that thumping organ. She brought a smaller knife in a severed the arteries and veins easily and with precision. More blood than ever pooled in the cavity and spilled out.
But, Larxene's bloodied hand came free and in it was a still beating heart, which she handed to Axel. "Quickly now!"
And now he convulsed. He tried not to struggle but he had to, had to get away, they were inside him and his skin tingled and there was power everywhere and oh god oh god and he could feel her reaching up and up to his heart and he clung to equations to the value of pi and he heard a voice screaming and realized it was his own
He screamed and he broke down laughing and crying and he shouted and raved numbers and equations and at last he could feel the knife near his heart and he screamed, screamed "I MUST NOT FEAR! I MUST NOT FEAR, I MUST NOT, EUCLID AND DESCARTES, REIMANN SUMS AND TAYLOR SERIES, E TO THE I PI MINUS ONE IS ZERO!"
"I MUST not fear..."
And abruptly, as the heart left him, he lay still, falling back to the table, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, not breathing, not moving.
The humming stopped; the crystals dimmed; and the only sign of any magic was that the bloody heart remained beating in Larxene's hand. The silence was deafning; and Zexion's voice shattered it like a gunshot through stained glass. "Give me his heart," he said.
Through it all, Axel had held Sho down with arms accustomed to flinging 25-pound metal discs like plastic frisbees. Eventually, he had to use his elbows, and his own weight, as Sho struggled to get up, to flee. Blood gushed forth, upward, getting his arms bloody, occasionally spurting onto his face, and yet Axel stood there, face completely blank, focused only on holding the patient down.
And then, when he went limp, Axel took the heart from Larxene, and passed it to Zexion, before standing upright and leaning backwards to pop a kink out of his back. "Well, that was interesting."
Larxene smiled and went to wash her hands. "That was fun.... I think we may have been successful, boys!" She smiled and rubbed the blood from under her fingernails, cleaning the knife as well. Now, it was up to Zexion. He was the alchemist, the one who could take that organ and make it into pure power. She smiled a little. He really was amazing.
If they were, there was no evidence of it as yet. Sho lay very, very still; and it wasn't as if they could check for a heartbeat. Zexion, however, appeared unworried. Swiftly, he took the heart to the cauldron, and dropped it in. At the same time, he took a long tube up off the floor, and opened it into the cauldron. It gushed bright red blood - Sho's own, in fact. "Patience," he said, and that was all. His eyes again narrowed in concentration as the concoction bubbled, an eerie glow emitting from the cauldron and giving his face a strange cast.
Meanwhile, Sho lay still, eyes, finally closed. But now, something was happening - his wounds were closing of their own accord. From the scar, black lines began to spread, going across his body in spiraling tribal patterns. At the same time, his hair drained of color, turning from dusky violet to charcoal grey, and his skin lightened
Zexion watched the cauldron for some time, seeing something no one else could; and suddenly looked up. "Do you want to live or not, Sho Minamimoto?"
Do you want to live? Do you want to live?
... I want to live. "I want to live," he murmured, suddenly drawing in a sharp breath.
Axel ignored Zexion's preparations and magic - he'd seen it all before, nothing new or exciting. Instead, he wiped the blood off his face, since it was dripping into his eyes. But then, Sho's wounds began closing, and a manic grin spread across his face. Axel LOVED it when he was right. "Hot damn, it worked!" he hissed to himself.
And then Sho drew a breath and spoke, and in spite of himself, Axel laughed like a giddy school boy and grabbed Larxene into a hug. "Fucking told you so!" he said. He shouldn't have been that excited, but really, being right in front of Larxene and Zexion would have made him insanely happy if he had the means to be happy. So he was "happy."
That gasp. That intake.... she recognized it. That breath that you took like you were a person drowning and suddenly there was air again and you could breathe and you exist. Sort of. It was a beautiful thing, and she let Axel hug her, "Hey I knew it too! I had a feeling, flamey! I had a good feeling and it WORKED! Yay! We don't have to dispose of a body tonight~!"
When she was let go, she clasped her hands together and smiled, giggling like a school girl, then went and hugged Zexion around the waist, giving him a peck on the back of his neck. She wasn't happy, she couldn't be, but, she was as close as she could get. They'd done it. This boy had survived! She smiled and went to go get his shirt to hand it to him. "My my, dear, you had us worried for a while!" She unstrapped him and smiled. His skin was ice cold. Interesting... he seemed to still be... well, in existence. Well, it was a nontraditional method.... Different results were to be expected.
Zexion allowed himself a small smile as Larxene hugged him, pleased with his work. Though he wasn't quite as exuberent as the other two...
He was pleased.
Sho didn't move for a while, simply feeling the air moving in and out of his lungs, and finding the silence somewhat strange. He'd never noticed before how loud the rushing of blood in his ears really was. He sat up slowly, taking the shirt absently, mechanically.
Well, a successful transformation after so many failures was something to be pretty darn pleased over. And now that Larxene was seeing to getting Sho dressed, Axel went to clean himself up. He was a bloody mess, which... wan't so much as a problem, as it was an inconvenience. He wanted to wash it off before it dried. Once he was clean, he wiped his hands and face and torso on a towl, and went to retrieve his coat. "So, Sho, welcome back to life. How do you feel?"
"... I don't," Sho said, simply. His voice was almost monotone, a complete change from how he was before.
"Well, you get used to it anyway. How about physically? Hurt, cold, hungry? I could duck back to Junkhouse and get you some food, or some water or something. Hell, want a mint? I got some here."
There was pain, but it all seemed very distant. Irrelevant. And there was a humming in his veins; a strange power.
Larxene giggled and poked Sho in the chest, "That's to be expected! What else did you think that thump thump was for?" She shrugged and finished cleaning herself off, as clean as ever.
"Well, now maybe that orange haired fellow will stop pining after you.... did you tell him where you were going?"
Kariya. He knew he should feel regret about that. "I liked Kariya," he said, flatly, looking down at Larxene's finger when she poked him.
Axel looked up at the ceiling and fiddled with the ends of his hair. "Oh shit, yeah. Kariya. Wow, this'll be a bitch to explain, won't it." He knew Kariya was smart, and would probably be over-curious when the normally exuberant Minamimoto was quiet. Ah well, they'd think of something
"Formchange... easy," he said. "Happens with reapers, sometimes. when we get more power. and... before I left..." he trailed off. Did it really matter, explaining it...?
Larxene shrugged, "That's your problem. I don't even know the boy, aside from the fact that he has an obvious unrequited love for math boy." She turned and winked, "Well, he did. I doubt he'll like you much now." Man, she'd forgotten how BORING new Nobodies were
"Well, regardless if Kariya has or had a crush on Sho here, we have to get him acclimated to life on this side of existence. Put your clothes back on, Pi-Face." Axel turned to Zexion. "His heart sphere done cooking?"
Zexion pulled the sphere out of the cauldron, revealing a black orb streaked with tribal designs in brilliant silver. "Yes. A strong one, too," he said. "I think I can even..." He concentrated, and ignited a flame with one finger. Axel could tell instantly that this flame was almost real, and would burn. "Still a strain, but..."
Axel grinned at the sight of the flame. "Lemme see that, I promise to give it back."
Sho winced, suddenly. Something about the orb... residual connection, perhaps. Zexion, meanwhile, obliged Axel, handing it over.
Larxene smiled, "Well, seems like our work is done here. I'd chalk that up to a huge success!" She examined the crystal, "Woooowww, so pretty!"
Ignoring Sho and taking the orb from Zexion, Axel retreated to a distant corner of the room, and smiled, giving Larxene a better view, before completely igniting himself. 75% of what he COULD do. As it stood, the heat he was giving off was searing hot, and the flames were blue. As quickly has he'd started them, the flames dissipated, and Axel drained the crystal of heat before handing it to Larxene. "Awesome."
Larxene grabbed the crystal and grinned, holding it and concentrating on its power. Her entire body became surrounded by electricity, crackling loudly like a Tesla Coil. Purple and bright, blinding white streaks of plasma arced from her body towards the metal in the room, the ceiling, to the blood. She smiled evilly and turned the power off like a switch, the deafening crackle ceasing immediately. "Wow." She smiled and handed it back to Zexion, "Very strong heart."
Sho pulled on his clothes slowly, then got to his feet. He wobbled a little, dizzy from blood loss. Zexion tilted his head at the other, then took another crystal off the shelf, handing it to Sho. "I want you to concentrate," he said. "I want you to reach for where your heart was and draw it out..."
He dug around on the shelves then, finally finding a twisted bit of wire. "And I want you to try to bend this." Sho took it, expression still blank. Mechanically, he held it in his hand and did as asked.
For a few moments, nothing happened; then the steel bent and twisted, changing into a coiled shape. As the power coursed through him, there was the briefest flash of memory of emotion, of what it was like to feel... And it wasn't what he expected. Not the flare of anger he felt at Joshua, nor the strange charged adrenaline rush that came with power... But regret.
"Well aren't you the quick study," Axel taunted from the spot he'd taken on the wall. WHile waiting for sho, he'd put his black coat back on, and was leaning against the stone with his arms folded. And Axel recognized the look that crossed Sho's face - every Nobody felt that first twinge of regret, of despair. And it never went away. Well, Pi-Face had walked right into this, so Axel wasn't gonna feel guilty one single bit.
Larxene didn't feel guilty either. Sho had volunteered. He'd asked for it. He got what he asked for. Power, raw, pure, and unfettered by emotion. Larxene slipped back on her cloak as well and grinned "A metal element, hm? Very nice." She looked around, "Ugh, can we get out of here now? There are still rats down here."
Zexion nodded. "Agreed. And it is quite late. I am nearly exhausted from all this, and it wouldn't do to not be able to hide ourselves on the way home." Sho said nothing. He was staring at the metal in his hand, wanting to feel some twinge of wonder at the marvel, and not being able to.
Larxene clasped her hands together. "Excellent, then let's get out of this dungeon. I want to go sleep in my feathery bed~" She formed a portal and stepped aside, allowing the others to step out first.
Axel lightly punched him on the arm. "Buck up, Einstein. Think about Riemann Sums or the value of pi or something. We're leaving."
Sho followed. "Reimann sums? Who cares," he said, a touch of something like anger in his voice.
"It's something to think about, at least," Axel replied coolly, before stepping into the portal and out into the streets of Rivelata.
What: Sho learns why dealing with Organization XIII is generally a bad idea
When: Night 196
Warnings: HOO BOY THIS IS A GORY LOG. Definitely Rated R. Very violent, proceed with caution.
Everything was ready. Larxene had found the perfect hide out, Zexion had somehow procured a circular altar for the ritual, hell, they'd even found fancy native Rivelatian masks to conceal their identity. They wouldn't be using them this time, however. Until now, they hadn't had any success in actually producing a Nobody - it wasn't their fault that the people they'd gathered hadn't been strong enough.
But tonight, they'd succeed in producing a Nobody. Axel was positive. "You ready, Sho?"
Sho chewed his arm. The full weight of his actions was finally starting to hit him. They're going to cut my heart out, he thought to himself. I could die. And there's no Underground here to fight through. But I've died before, and maybe being out of this place'd be a relief...
But there's Kariya, and Uzuki, and the shop; and there WAS Komui and there's... ... what is there? what am I fighting for anyway? What good does killing Josh do?
He stopped chewing on his arm, and sighed, still thinking. But then there's Joshua. He's got his Composer powers here, clearly, and he's brought Shibuya here. Which means if I can get enough power to take him out... I could finally get rid of him forever. Free Shibuya. Take it back for us. End the stupid cycle. Keep us from being controlled like factoring puppets...
And again, the look of doubt on his face passed like summer clouds, replaced by a maverick grin. "It's an absolute value," he said. "Now, show me the coordinates of this place before I change my mind."
"Ah, but our escort hasn't arrived yet. Can't be seen walking in, after all." Axel took his coat off of a peg in the shop and donned it, pulling the hood up. "should be here any minute"
Larxene finally entered, mask in hand and dressed in a simple black robe. "Sorry for my tardiness, boys. Shall we go?"
"As they say, speak of the devil," said Zexion, seeming to melt out of the shadows. Sho managed not to jump, and to completely hide being scared. "One moment while I hide us. Straight invisibility, this time." Zexion simply concentrated for a few moments; the three of them seemed to shimmer slightly, but then the shimmering stopped. "There. Invisible and inaudible to anyone but each other. Shall we?"
"We shall," Axel said with confidence, giving Sho a cocky grin before stepping out the door and into the dark streets of Rivelata.
Larxene smirked and clasped her hands together, "Well, you never cease to surprise me, Zexion my dear." She smiled cutely and then walked into the street, leading the invisible quartet to the warehouse. Sho's emotions were palpable. Well.... not for long. Larxene smiled as they approached the warehouse, pulling a heart crystal out of her pocket and threw it up and down. She then opened a portal using the extra power the heart gave her and portaled them all directly into the basement. No disturbed dust, no broken locks. Very discrete
"This is it! Axel, lights, please?" She gestured to some torches and lanterns and took off her cloak.
Zexion also took off his cloak, and began attending to a large cauldron in the corner, taking a number of curious phials and bottles off the shelves and adding them to it as he lit a small fire underneath. This was where the crystals were created, in a bath of various strange minerals and herbs it had taken him weeks of careful research to find. "Sho, if you would kindly lie down on the table...?"
Axel effortlessly lit the torches, and began his own preparations, mainly preparing the table, and getting the multiple implements needed for cutting and stabbing and sterilizing them with a handful of fire. Once the tools were clean and glowing a faint red, Axel shrugged off his coat and shirt, and tied his hair back away from his face. He then picked up a dirty leather apron and put it on.
Larxene took the implements from Axel once they were cool enough to handle and laid them on a sterilized metal cart, keeping a particularly sharp obsidian knife for herself. She was, after all, the surgeon. She helped the young man up onto the table and began strapping him in. "I'm so sorry that the table is so cold.... but it'll warm up soon." She grinned rather horribly. "We're almost ready~"
Sho eyed the table with more than a little trepidation. It was huge, almost seven feet in diameter, and covered with intricate carvings. Still, he submitted to Larxene when she took him by the arm, knowing better than to resist. The carvings were deeply cut spirals, swirls, and triangles, with the table divided along the four cardinal directions and then once again between those directions.
At each direction was a differently colored crystal which sparkled slightly in the light; a different color for each direction. For a few moments, he apprecaited the artistry of it all. Gruesome though it was. Even the dark red stains in the grooves served to enhance the dark beauty of the piece. A monument to the macabre indeed.
Zexion, on the other hand, had begun to hum softly to himself, a strange, dissonant song without words. He crossed to the table then, and began to pull a number of strange tubes and wires out from underneath it. The wires were connected to the crystals. "Larxene, if you would remove Mr. Minamimoto's shirt...?"
Axel waited until Larxene had taken Sho's shirt off, rolling his shoulders and cracking his knuckles until the reaper's torso was bare. As soon as Larxene gave him the nod, Axel strode up behind Sho and roughly held him down on the table. Despite his skinny appearance, Axel was surpringly strong. However, since the ritual had not begun, Axel wasn't even doing much. The real work would come later.
Sho tried to slow his breathing. He tried to tell himself that he wasn't afraid, that this was going to be fine. He wasn't afraid. There was no fear. He laughed, a strange, nervous laugh, as he found himself thinking of Dune, of all things. I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Zexion, on the other hand, was completely calm, swabbing areas of Sho's skin as he connected the wires, digging them straight into the man's skin, hitting key pressure points and using his powers to eliminate the pain. No sense in making it hurt yet. When he'd connected all eight wires (one for each cardinal direction, for each crystal), he stepped back.
"Begin."
"No turning back now," Axel said with a cruel smile, green eyes alight with malice, before he FORCED Sho down onto the table, and turned that wicked smile to Larxene.
Larxene placed his shirt on a table across the room. He would want it later, anyway. The girl washed her hands, but didn't put on gloves. No point in it, after all. She smiled and brought her various implements to bear. "Now now, dear... I would say everything will be fine, but...." She paused, looking up then back down, a devilish smile on her lips. "This is going to hurt." And without further ado, she began her work with surgical precision.
The glassy knife was so sharp that it was almost impossible to feel, at first. But then she started digging through muscle and fat and guts, and then, then it hurt. Her fingers were covered in blood and it gushed like a babbling brook into the grooves, coloring the table red. The blood ran into holes and dripped to the floor, going down the drain located beneath it.
Sho thought about many things. He thought about the fundamental theorem of calculus; he thought of Euler's notation, Cartesian coordinates; of fractals; and at first it worked At first, there was the clarity and purity of mathematics... but then the knife went deeper. then the blood poured out over his skin and the pain began. He bit back a gasp, bit back pain, and numbers cascaded, statistics, equations, as well as the Litany. Of all things, that damn Litany from a book he'd read years ago.
: Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me...
Sho Minamimoto's fear was tangible - Axel could taste it, feel it tensing in the skin underneath his hands. The reaper wasn't struggling yet, so he still didn't have to do much work, but it would come. It always did, even in the most fearless of victims. Larxene hadn't even gotten inside the abdominal cavity yet, even though blood was pouring all over the table now. He spared a glance at Zexion, observing how the other nobody's magical preparations were going.
Zexion was chanting, quietly, his eyes closed in concentration, one of the crystals (a dark blue one in this case) in his hands. There was a faint shimmering around him, and a sharp smell similar to ozone. The crystals in the table flared to life, and energy sparked along the wires. They'd seen this before, but it seemed different this time; a curious hum began to fill the room.
Larxene looked up from her worth briefly. That was a different noise.. a different feeling all together. Was it going right this time? She shook her head and kept working, finally making her way into the abdominal cavity. Time to go up through the chest. She kept the boy's flesh peeled back using pins, like some sort of vivisection.... which, for all intents and purposes, it was. There, the diaphragm.
She would have to work fast now, or else he would go braindead before the heart was free. But she was skilled with a blade. She took another one from the table and cut more, feeling around in the cavity. Spasming lungs... somewhere in between... There, that thumping organ. She brought a smaller knife in a severed the arteries and veins easily and with precision. More blood than ever pooled in the cavity and spilled out.
But, Larxene's bloodied hand came free and in it was a still beating heart, which she handed to Axel. "Quickly now!"
And now he convulsed. He tried not to struggle but he had to, had to get away, they were inside him and his skin tingled and there was power everywhere and oh god oh god and he could feel her reaching up and up to his heart and he clung to equations to the value of pi and he heard a voice screaming and realized it was his own
He screamed and he broke down laughing and crying and he shouted and raved numbers and equations and at last he could feel the knife near his heart and he screamed, screamed "I MUST NOT FEAR! I MUST NOT FEAR, I MUST NOT, EUCLID AND DESCARTES, REIMANN SUMS AND TAYLOR SERIES, E TO THE I PI MINUS ONE IS ZERO!"
"I MUST not fear..."
And abruptly, as the heart left him, he lay still, falling back to the table, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, not breathing, not moving.
The humming stopped; the crystals dimmed; and the only sign of any magic was that the bloody heart remained beating in Larxene's hand. The silence was deafning; and Zexion's voice shattered it like a gunshot through stained glass. "Give me his heart," he said.
Through it all, Axel had held Sho down with arms accustomed to flinging 25-pound metal discs like plastic frisbees. Eventually, he had to use his elbows, and his own weight, as Sho struggled to get up, to flee. Blood gushed forth, upward, getting his arms bloody, occasionally spurting onto his face, and yet Axel stood there, face completely blank, focused only on holding the patient down.
And then, when he went limp, Axel took the heart from Larxene, and passed it to Zexion, before standing upright and leaning backwards to pop a kink out of his back. "Well, that was interesting."
Larxene smiled and went to wash her hands. "That was fun.... I think we may have been successful, boys!" She smiled and rubbed the blood from under her fingernails, cleaning the knife as well. Now, it was up to Zexion. He was the alchemist, the one who could take that organ and make it into pure power. She smiled a little. He really was amazing.
If they were, there was no evidence of it as yet. Sho lay very, very still; and it wasn't as if they could check for a heartbeat. Zexion, however, appeared unworried. Swiftly, he took the heart to the cauldron, and dropped it in. At the same time, he took a long tube up off the floor, and opened it into the cauldron. It gushed bright red blood - Sho's own, in fact. "Patience," he said, and that was all. His eyes again narrowed in concentration as the concoction bubbled, an eerie glow emitting from the cauldron and giving his face a strange cast.
Meanwhile, Sho lay still, eyes, finally closed. But now, something was happening - his wounds were closing of their own accord. From the scar, black lines began to spread, going across his body in spiraling tribal patterns. At the same time, his hair drained of color, turning from dusky violet to charcoal grey, and his skin lightened
Zexion watched the cauldron for some time, seeing something no one else could; and suddenly looked up. "Do you want to live or not, Sho Minamimoto?"
Do you want to live? Do you want to live?
... I want to live. "I want to live," he murmured, suddenly drawing in a sharp breath.
Axel ignored Zexion's preparations and magic - he'd seen it all before, nothing new or exciting. Instead, he wiped the blood off his face, since it was dripping into his eyes. But then, Sho's wounds began closing, and a manic grin spread across his face. Axel LOVED it when he was right. "Hot damn, it worked!" he hissed to himself.
And then Sho drew a breath and spoke, and in spite of himself, Axel laughed like a giddy school boy and grabbed Larxene into a hug. "Fucking told you so!" he said. He shouldn't have been that excited, but really, being right in front of Larxene and Zexion would have made him insanely happy if he had the means to be happy. So he was "happy."
That gasp. That intake.... she recognized it. That breath that you took like you were a person drowning and suddenly there was air again and you could breathe and you exist. Sort of. It was a beautiful thing, and she let Axel hug her, "Hey I knew it too! I had a feeling, flamey! I had a good feeling and it WORKED! Yay! We don't have to dispose of a body tonight~!"
When she was let go, she clasped her hands together and smiled, giggling like a school girl, then went and hugged Zexion around the waist, giving him a peck on the back of his neck. She wasn't happy, she couldn't be, but, she was as close as she could get. They'd done it. This boy had survived! She smiled and went to go get his shirt to hand it to him. "My my, dear, you had us worried for a while!" She unstrapped him and smiled. His skin was ice cold. Interesting... he seemed to still be... well, in existence. Well, it was a nontraditional method.... Different results were to be expected.
Zexion allowed himself a small smile as Larxene hugged him, pleased with his work. Though he wasn't quite as exuberent as the other two...
He was pleased.
Sho didn't move for a while, simply feeling the air moving in and out of his lungs, and finding the silence somewhat strange. He'd never noticed before how loud the rushing of blood in his ears really was. He sat up slowly, taking the shirt absently, mechanically.
Well, a successful transformation after so many failures was something to be pretty darn pleased over. And now that Larxene was seeing to getting Sho dressed, Axel went to clean himself up. He was a bloody mess, which... wan't so much as a problem, as it was an inconvenience. He wanted to wash it off before it dried. Once he was clean, he wiped his hands and face and torso on a towl, and went to retrieve his coat. "So, Sho, welcome back to life. How do you feel?"
"... I don't," Sho said, simply. His voice was almost monotone, a complete change from how he was before.
"Well, you get used to it anyway. How about physically? Hurt, cold, hungry? I could duck back to Junkhouse and get you some food, or some water or something. Hell, want a mint? I got some here."
There was pain, but it all seemed very distant. Irrelevant. And there was a humming in his veins; a strange power.
Larxene giggled and poked Sho in the chest, "That's to be expected! What else did you think that thump thump was for?" She shrugged and finished cleaning herself off, as clean as ever.
"Well, now maybe that orange haired fellow will stop pining after you.... did you tell him where you were going?"
Kariya. He knew he should feel regret about that. "I liked Kariya," he said, flatly, looking down at Larxene's finger when she poked him.
Axel looked up at the ceiling and fiddled with the ends of his hair. "Oh shit, yeah. Kariya. Wow, this'll be a bitch to explain, won't it." He knew Kariya was smart, and would probably be over-curious when the normally exuberant Minamimoto was quiet. Ah well, they'd think of something
"Formchange... easy," he said. "Happens with reapers, sometimes. when we get more power. and... before I left..." he trailed off. Did it really matter, explaining it...?
Larxene shrugged, "That's your problem. I don't even know the boy, aside from the fact that he has an obvious unrequited love for math boy." She turned and winked, "Well, he did. I doubt he'll like you much now." Man, she'd forgotten how BORING new Nobodies were
"Well, regardless if Kariya has or had a crush on Sho here, we have to get him acclimated to life on this side of existence. Put your clothes back on, Pi-Face." Axel turned to Zexion. "His heart sphere done cooking?"
Zexion pulled the sphere out of the cauldron, revealing a black orb streaked with tribal designs in brilliant silver. "Yes. A strong one, too," he said. "I think I can even..." He concentrated, and ignited a flame with one finger. Axel could tell instantly that this flame was almost real, and would burn. "Still a strain, but..."
Axel grinned at the sight of the flame. "Lemme see that, I promise to give it back."
Sho winced, suddenly. Something about the orb... residual connection, perhaps. Zexion, meanwhile, obliged Axel, handing it over.
Larxene smiled, "Well, seems like our work is done here. I'd chalk that up to a huge success!" She examined the crystal, "Woooowww, so pretty!"
Ignoring Sho and taking the orb from Zexion, Axel retreated to a distant corner of the room, and smiled, giving Larxene a better view, before completely igniting himself. 75% of what he COULD do. As it stood, the heat he was giving off was searing hot, and the flames were blue. As quickly has he'd started them, the flames dissipated, and Axel drained the crystal of heat before handing it to Larxene. "Awesome."
Larxene grabbed the crystal and grinned, holding it and concentrating on its power. Her entire body became surrounded by electricity, crackling loudly like a Tesla Coil. Purple and bright, blinding white streaks of plasma arced from her body towards the metal in the room, the ceiling, to the blood. She smiled evilly and turned the power off like a switch, the deafening crackle ceasing immediately. "Wow." She smiled and handed it back to Zexion, "Very strong heart."
Sho pulled on his clothes slowly, then got to his feet. He wobbled a little, dizzy from blood loss. Zexion tilted his head at the other, then took another crystal off the shelf, handing it to Sho. "I want you to concentrate," he said. "I want you to reach for where your heart was and draw it out..."
He dug around on the shelves then, finally finding a twisted bit of wire. "And I want you to try to bend this." Sho took it, expression still blank. Mechanically, he held it in his hand and did as asked.
For a few moments, nothing happened; then the steel bent and twisted, changing into a coiled shape. As the power coursed through him, there was the briefest flash of memory of emotion, of what it was like to feel... And it wasn't what he expected. Not the flare of anger he felt at Joshua, nor the strange charged adrenaline rush that came with power... But regret.
"Well aren't you the quick study," Axel taunted from the spot he'd taken on the wall. WHile waiting for sho, he'd put his black coat back on, and was leaning against the stone with his arms folded. And Axel recognized the look that crossed Sho's face - every Nobody felt that first twinge of regret, of despair. And it never went away. Well, Pi-Face had walked right into this, so Axel wasn't gonna feel guilty one single bit.
Larxene didn't feel guilty either. Sho had volunteered. He'd asked for it. He got what he asked for. Power, raw, pure, and unfettered by emotion. Larxene slipped back on her cloak as well and grinned "A metal element, hm? Very nice." She looked around, "Ugh, can we get out of here now? There are still rats down here."
Zexion nodded. "Agreed. And it is quite late. I am nearly exhausted from all this, and it wouldn't do to not be able to hide ourselves on the way home." Sho said nothing. He was staring at the metal in his hand, wanting to feel some twinge of wonder at the marvel, and not being able to.
Larxene clasped her hands together. "Excellent, then let's get out of this dungeon. I want to go sleep in my feathery bed~" She formed a portal and stepped aside, allowing the others to step out first.
Axel lightly punched him on the arm. "Buck up, Einstein. Think about Riemann Sums or the value of pi or something. We're leaving."
Sho followed. "Reimann sums? Who cares," he said, a touch of something like anger in his voice.
"It's something to think about, at least," Axel replied coolly, before stepping into the portal and out into the streets of Rivelata.