Dead Inside (first chapter)

(My second entry... but still a first timer. Anyways, rate please and maybe PM or email me what I've done wrong or right. Thank you. =])



“Oh lord, look child. See what war brings to our city” exclaimed a man in his mid-thirties as he wandered the earth, that was still set ablaze from the flames that had been used during the epic battle earlier.

         A stocky adolescent walked up next to the man and nodded.

“I know, Unc... and I hear tell it was all done by one man.” she said with a small sigh.

“Don’t speak such rubbish, child. No way any man or woman could cause such chaos on their own.”

“But...”

“No but’s,” He said, interrupting the poor girl, “No one but... him, could do that.”

         The man looked off towards the sun that was slowly setting as he began to consider the thought of ‘him’ being in such a small town of little happenings.

“Who is ‘him’, Uncle?” she questioned, a small glint in her eyes.

         Her uncle was known as a great historian and story teller, so if he was willing to tell, she was in for a great tale.

“Mmm... I don’t think you’re ready to hear of such,” he replied, his eyes looking down toward her.

“But, Uncle...”

“Hush...”

         The man dug into his pocket, withdrew his hand that now held a pipe and a pack of matches. He slowly placed the pipe in his hand, quickly opened the pack of matches and struck one aflame to light the tobacco in his pipe. Inhaling then exhaling, he sighed and gazed over at his niece.

“So you really wanna know, eh?” he question as he exhaled another cloud of smoke.

“No duh, Unc. Tell me, tell me!” she exclaimed.

         Her uncle took another hit at the pipe and sighed as he exhaled.

“Fine... where shall I begin? You see...”



Chapter 1: All In My Mind



         March 5th, 2XXX of Lucifer’s year. A land covered in a deep black soot, showing the land was once a great sea of molten lava. In immediate frontal and distance view, an infinite number of pit cages were visible. Each held a prisoner or two. Yet amongst the living dead in their holding pits, all was quiet. Where the usual was harsh beatings and burnings from their Lord, Satan, not a sound could be heard. Today differed, today there were no beatings... for the pit scum at least. They all could hear the slight yelling and screaming and rapping and beatings of their Devil upon the one his daughter, Charlys, loved. Some clutched at the bars of their cages, raging in excitement, cheering their Lord for victory; others praying for the lad to come up with an upset and vanquish their maleficent king.

“Ahhhhh!!! No, daddy... STOP!” yelled Charlys as her loved received blow after blow.

         Her father, Satan, ignored her wish for him to halt and continued. On and on and on went his blows with his right for man clutched by his left, many blows knocking the boy's blood onto the Throne Room's red velvet carpet and marble floors. After all the beatings he had received, the young man looked quite unconscious, but with one half-opened eye staring defiantly into Satan’s face, you could tell he was not. Second after second, minute after every horrible minute went by, each hit harder than the previous, but the lad endured.

         As Satan was about to hit him once more, he stopped, coming to the conclusion that boy could care less what happened to himself. That his love prevailed over his own well-being. Satan despised the look in the youth’s courageous eyes. Down right loathed it.

“Hmph...”

         Satan quickly threw the boy toward his daughter, toppling her over onto the floor, and turned away from them.

“Bid your lover good bye, Charlys. For in a half hour he’ll be the pit dog’s appetizer. Your little failure is dead meat. Haha,” he said with a maniacal chuckle and walked down the blood-stained carpets towards Hell’s Kitchen.

         Charlys held her love on her lap in her arms on the floor, cradling his head. He was in bad shape, his once handsome face was covered in large welts and bruises, his hair ruffled and untidy and his whole being was covered in blood. Charlys laid with her love crying and letting her heart out.

“Why... why did I have to fall in love with you? I could have saved my and yourself the trouble of my accursed father’s wrath.”

         She laid her weeping head onto her love’s chest, awakening him from his unconscious state with her sadness.

“Hell, I... I... don’t know,” he spoke up, “I figure... shit’s my fault. You... I... we were only friends... but that relationship kinda grew... I guess. Eh..” he coughed a bit at the end of his statement and Charlys looked up, still pressed against him.

“I know... we were foolish, but I loved you. You did save me... heroic as it was. It... made me realize... how much I love you... Cai-” her affectionate words were brought to a standstill by her father, now re-entering the throne room with a great blade at his side.

“Time’s up, my daughter. Hand your failure over to me!” yelled Satan.

“No, daddy! I won’t let you! I won’t let you have him!” she screamed, clutching her love in her arms.

         Charlys gave her father a defiant stare and pressed her lips on her love’s, giving him a long-winded kiss.

“I’ll never leave him, daddy... I love, Cai-”

         That was all she could say. Satan had swung the mighty blade he wielded down, severing his own daughter’s head. The head flew towards the grown, drenching her, the floor and her love with the blood. The lad laid there in shock, knowing he was being held by a beheaded version of his love.

“...” he gazed upon the headless female figure that was once Charlys, then looked over at the severed head, shedding small bloody tears, probably for her love. He slowly stood and limped over for her head, bent down and grabbed it, lifting it to his eyes. Minuscule balls of clear liquid formed from the youth’s eyes. The loss of his love only fueled something deep within.

“Hahahaha!!!” Satan laughed, only making the lad angrier.

“Th... that was your daughter. Your own child... how could y-”

“Hah... you forget I let you be with my daughter, even knowing you killed my son, Shin. I could care less of that foolish bitch. Falling in love with you was her failure to me,” he said, with a smug smirk.

“Y-you bastard,” said through clenched teeth, clenching his right fist as he left go of his love’s head. “I... I’ll kill you!!”

         With that, he stood and rushed toward Satan in an angry rage, no formulated plan, nothing... just rushed towards he who was the medium of his hatred. The young man found this only brought more pain, as this devil lord brought down the great bladed weapon, resembling a butcher knife... blood was everywhere.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

         Severed. The lover’s whole right side of his body was severed clean off. His body laid on the Throne Room floor, oozing the same red liquid that his love did earlier. The small puddle slowly turned into a kiddy pool or blood as the Devil stepped towards the handicapped figure on the palace floors. He only smirked as he neared the floored victim, making the youth wonder what was next.


         Satan bent down and reached for the lad, and slowly began to shake him by the throat.

“Haha... I’m going to kill you with my own hands you worthless mortal. I really wonder what my daughter saw in you,” thought aloud as he shook the young man.

“N-nooooooo!!!”
----------------------
“No? No what, mister?” questioned a small girl with long brown locks, softly shaking him by his black scarf.

“H-huh?”

         He was a badly scarred man, one scar on his face, running from his right cheek to his left; another hidden behind the black head band that covered his right eye and others all over his body. Yet he was a rather handsome man, besides his extreme features that is. One, his eyebrows were half of what they should be; two, on his right cheek was Chinese tattoo that read “murder”; and three, the scars and his muscular figure... not to mention how he was dressed. Underneath the metallic chest-armor, he wore black mesh that went to his stomach and mid-upper arm. On each forearm he wore a metallic plate, tied to his arms by black bands, each with two kunai knives strapped on. His leggings were a tad baggy, but fitting, stopping at his footings, which were black stringed black boots that were covered on the top where the boots started and on the area where the strings end... each of those four plates strapped on securely like the rest. Oh... and not forgetting the hair, brown, kind of short, but spiky with three long bangs which came from under the headband, two that covered his face, one which slightly flapped upward; in a way he was handsome, to those that like the warring type that is.

         Getting back to the story, he was parked under a tree, sitting with one leg under his ass and the other upright (kneeling position), with one arm by his side, the other on his upright leg; he eyed the child that now stood in front of his eyes, surrounded by vegetation.

“Heh heh... sorry, kid. Guess I was having a bad dream.” he told her as he slowly took the arm off his knee and planted its hand to the grassy earth and with the other, lifted himself up and off the tree trunk.

“Oh... okay. What’s your name, Mister?”

“Heh. Cairo... Ichigowa Cairo. How about you, kid?” he asked with the first smile he had in a long while.

“Oh... Mommy says not to tell my name to strangers.”

“Haha... alright, but when one gives their name, their not a stranger anymore.”

“Oh... then it’s, Kimi. Oh... and, Mister Ceero?”

“Yah?”

“Why are you all scarred, did a bad guy getcha? And Ceero...” she looked from right to left, then back at him, “what’d ja dream about?”

         He smiled down at the little girl, then turned for the cloudy skies that suddenly began to weep, toppling down onto his face to create the effect that he too was weeping. The girl looked up at him in wonder of the wait. Then he looked back down toward her with his rain drenched face with a slight smirk.

“Heh... don’t worry ‘bout me, kid. I'm okay. Besides... it’s all in my mind, now.”


End of Chapter 1...