TW Derealisation, dissociation, depictions of violence
A daze.
It had all just been a daze since he woke up that morning, when he robotically rolled out of bed, wondering how long it would be till he heard her voice.
Wilheim walked out onto the cold stone floor, his suit crinkled and slightly uncomfortable, so he adjusted it around his body. Hm. That’s better. Pulling on his shoes, he grabbed something to eat from the kitchen and took the elevator up, where he leaned out over the fence, eating the breakfast goulash.
After a while by himself, Strawberry came to find him, with barely contained excitement, and Wilheim followed him to a little hill outside The Nests, where a “decorated” had been erected, with a cake and two presents to each side of it, where Mia and Ulysses were waiting. “What’s this for?” Wilheim asked, with a half smile. Strawberry had the biggest beaming grin on his face, and Mia as always, had a mischievous smile. “Parent day! For Wim and Usie!” “Ohh!” Wilheim fully smiled, and walked up, inspecting the cute little area. “You both made it look so nice!” Strawberry was jumping up and down with excitement, and Mia put her arm on one of his flapping hands to calm him down, giggling at how animated he was. “Open them.” She chuckled, and looked adoringly at Ulysses. Both of them worked off the ribbons of the accurately coloured boxes, and within was a… a cuddly toy. A skeleton horse. Wilheim felt his heart go warm, and he found that his smile spread more. “Oh… Guys… This is wonderful.” He said, swallowing a lump in his throat. Ulysses seemed to be having a similar reaction, thoughtfully looking down on their kids whilst with an enormous mouthful of strawberry cake, freshly baked. “Kids, thank you so much.” Ulysses swallowed his mouthful, placed the cake down, and took both of them in a hug. Wilheim stood and watched, a fond smile on his face, wondering if it was safe for him to start feeling happy.
After this, they headed over to Wilheim’s place again, where they hung out for a little while, with Gale and Lyss turning up as well. Lyss! She had four legs now, alongside her tail! She was definitely coming close to hatching, and Wilheim couldn’t wait to see what she’d hatch into. Soon after, they all headed over to Gale’s, and just after everyone had warped, Wilheim heard her voice.
No… not now, not today. Not on parent day. This was special. Although, he supposed, special didn’t exist to people like him.
Reluctantly, he warped to Gale’s as well, where he remained mostly quiet, keeping an eye out for any danger, and making sure the kids didn’t get into trouble. He saw a couple of seasonal mobs that he captured, but overall, there wasn’t much for him to report. He realised now that he wasn’t fully present in the moment. It was like seeing through a layer of translucent film, and hearing as though he was underwater. Everyone’s voices over comms were muffled, and eventually he just started running through the desert, Lyss in tow, keeping up on her brand new four legs. He kept on talking to her voice, that agonising, terrified voice, hearing her say how no one would forgive him, how the stars will never forget, how he gave her just the right nudge…
Little soldier… :)
The way she said it sounded like a twist in a horror film, when the character is crying, and switches up, and it was in fact her all along. That’s how it sounded. Broken, with just a hint of delighted sadism.
He lay on the cold sand, Lyss next to him, and stared up at the dead, unblinking stars. They used to be so beautiful.
The others returned to Ulysses’ Nests in order to put some things together, so Wilheim came too, remaining silent but helping out with Mia’s room. It was a mindless task that made him wander in the fog of his mind, but all of a sudden he was at the Hunting Ground. There was nothing but his essentials on him, and of course his swords. Since it was night, the grounds were already infested, and he just started swinging, but then he saw the tell tale flash of blue, and the daze fully set in.
Every time he saw her, he tried to kill her. But his swords would just go straight through, like there was nothing there.
Briefly, the daze cleared, and Wilheim gasped, panting from exertion. He fell to his knees, nothing but despair on his face and mind. “I’m done.” He whispered. “You win. Just- leave me alone. Please.”
He looked up at Ghostzone’s face. Her smooth, empty, pale blue face. No tail moved behind her, no sparkle of energy, no nothing. It stared back, and tilted its head. Do you understand yet, little soldier?
Wilheim gritted his teeth, and Ghostzone put its hand through his head, the daze coming out of nowhere.
He started slashing, hard. Fighting like he never had before, until it felt good. He yelled, screamed, roared,
He felt bones crunch, flesh tear, arms get sliced, legs lacerated, skull cracki- Wait. Wilheim found himself in his body, looking out at the Hunting Ground, and heard a distressed crying behind him. He turned and Strawberry was lying there, confused, frightened, and shaking, covered in blood and upon seeing Wilheim turn around, wailed in pain, reaching for him. Wilheim rushed to him. “Strawberry!!” Wilheim fumbled with bandages, with healing potions, golden apples, anything, to get Strawberry back on his feet, but just before he could splash the health on him, Strawberry was whisked away to the Safe Room. Wilheim collapsed, his swords falling from his hands. What have I done??
He warped to the safe room, where Ulysses was frantic, checking that Strawberry was ok, before hounding on Wilheim. “What happened!?” He cried, crossing the floor. “I- I don’t know…” Wilheim managed to get out, tears brimming in his eyes. “I-”
He ripped his comm out of his ear and warped away.