Broken Symmetry (NTB Book 2) (A Socksfor1 AU)

The Return

TW: blood/gore description

(AKIK POV)

I woke up with Blaza beside me on the bed. Guess we fell asleep.

I stood up and looked out the window. The rain had cleared up yesterday evening, before we all went to bed, but it was still wet and muddy outside.

"Akik?"

I turned and saw that Blaza had woken up.

"Good morning, Blaza," I said cheerfully.

Blaza sat up, but brought his hand to his head as he did, as if it hurt. 

"Ah," he grimaced.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Blaza replied, "Just got a killer headache all of a sudden."

"You need some medicine or something to ease the pain?" I questioned, "Or I could heal it."

"No, don't waste your energy on a stupid headache," Blaza said, "And it should go away after a bit. I'm probably just tired."

"Alright, then," I said.

Blaza got up, and we both walked out of the room. As soon as we entered the living room area, however, Nadwe burst through the front door.

"Akik! Blaza! You need to see this!" He said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's Oof!" Nadwe said, "He's dead!"

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We entered the house, where everyone else was already standing there. TB looked a bit shaken - he's probably the one who found the body. Oompa was sitting there with his hand on this shoulder, shooting an angry glare at Dusk. Dusk was glaring back with a look that said "what did I ever do." Meme was sitting in the corner, looking at the two worryingly. He saw us and sighed in relief.

"There you are," He said, "Come on. We found him in here."

Meme led us down the hallway to a room at the end of it. I could feel the aura of death even out here. Meme opened the door, and I wanted to throw up.

Oof was laying there on the floor - he had obviously been thrown off - covered in his own blood. There was a gaping hole in his chest, and his face was almost as white as the paper mask he always wore (which was on the bedside table). His throat had been slit as well, and a stab wound on his forehead was caked in dried blood. Talk about overkill.

"What... Who..." I stuttered, but I was still shocked at the sight before me. Who could've done this? Why?

Blaza just stared at the body, his face almost as pale as Oof's. I brought him in closer to me with my wing, and he buried his face into my arm.

"Could you... Revive him?" Meme asked.

"I think he's beyond revival," I sighed, "Sure, the wounds would close up, but he wouldn't have enough blood to survive more than a few seconds."

Meme sighed. "I may be a doctor, but I don't have the supplies for a blood injection."

"Then... He's just dead?" Blaza whispered.

"Yeah..." I said.

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Back in the living room, everyone else was waiting. When Nadwe asked why I didn't just revive him, I explained.

"I thought that's how revival worked..." Nadwe said, "You revived Dusk, even after his neck had been literally snapped, why can't you do it now?"

"Revival doesn't restore blood," I said, "It only closes the wound and mends any bones. And Meme doesn't have the right equipment to inject blood, so... I'm sorry."

"Who could've done this?" TB said, still shaken, "You said you killed the murderer before we came."

"We did," I said.

"I bet it was demon boy over there," I heard Oompa mutter. Dusk looked at him, anger in his eyes.

"I'm on you guys' side here!" Dusk said, "Why am I the suspect?"

"You've killed people before," Oompa said, "And your the demon guy's son. How do we know your not finishing what he started?"

"Because I never wanted to be his son!" Dusk argued, "I hated him as much as everyone else hates him. Maybe more!"

"You two need to stop fighting and use logic here!" Meme said.

Nadwe walked over and stood in front of Dusk. "Dusk would never kill Oof!"

"Then explain who would!" Oompa said.

"ENOUGH!"

I turned, surprised, to the source of the shout. It was Blaza. He looked like he wanted to explode right there. Something in his eyes changed from their usual brightness to pure anger. It scared me, and didn't seem like Blaza.

"Blaza, you okay?" Meme asked, also noticing Blaza's sudden ferocity. 

Blaza took a deep breath. "No. I'm not. You guys are screaming at each other, and these.. Voices, they're just... Bouncing around in my skull, telling me to kill-"

"Wait," I said, "What did you just say?"

Blaza looked at me, frightened and angry. "I.. don't know... my head is pounding, and... it's like I've lost control of myself..."

I could see the panic in his eyes. This was no exaggeration.

He truly was losing himself.

And I knew exactly to whom.

As if on que, Blaza fell to his knees, covering his ears. He was screaming at this point, trying to drown out whatever he was hearing. Suddenly, his hands turned to claws, covered in black ink. Four tentacles similar to the ones I sometimes have protruded from his back, ones that looked like the branches of a rose bush (I ran out of ideas for the tentacles XD). Blaza opened his eyes, and they were black as night, his pupils glowing ice blue. 

He slowly stood up, breathing heavily. He looked at his claws, and his tentacles, then looked at me, his gaze malicious and not his own.

"Good to be back," he said, his voice echoing demonically. His tentacle shot forward, wrapping around my arms and wings as to prevent me from escaping.

"Vizor!" I said, "I know that's you in there, just leave us alone!"

"Smart Nephalem," Blaza/Vizor said, "But still very annoying. Might as well kill you here, while I have the chance."

I felt his tentacle get tighter around me. I could hardly breathe, and I think one of my wings are already broken. I gasped for breath, tried to, but he was cutting off my windpipe. Suddenly, someone jumped forward and tackled Blaza to the ground, forcing him to let go of me.

I sat there, catching my breath. I saw that it was Dusk who had jumped on Blaza. He had summoned his scythe, and was using it to hold him down - he hasn't used that thing since before he died. 

"I won't let you kill anyone else, Vizor!" he said, "Not while I'm here!"

Blaza chuckled. "Silly child. If you kill me, you kill Blaza. Remember that."

Then, all of a sudden, normal Blaza seemed to just snap back to reality. The tentacles disappeared, and his hands were normal hands. He was looking up at Dusk in fear and confusion.

"Dusk, what're you..." he stuttered, "What just- who- what?"

Dusk drew his scythe away from Blaza, making it disappear into thin air. Blaza looked at me and gasped.

"Akik!"

He ran over to me and hugged me. "Akik, I'm sorry, whatever I did- I- didn't-"

"Blaza, calm down!" I said, "I know you didn't mean it! I'm- ow!"

I grimaced as I tried to move my angel wing. I looked at it, and saw that the bone part had been snapped. Blaza saw it, then looked at me.

"What did I just do?"

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VIZOR YOU SON OF A- JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE

1184 words

And Happy Easter btw :D

(I really wanna draw Oof's death scene now XD)