The night was dark and overcast, the light from the moon being mostly obscured by the cloud cover over Omni-1, The lights of the city providing the only illumination as a slow downpour begin to fall. A figured stood in front of the Baboons Nightclub that rested in the northern section of the city's Entertainment district, the rain forcing him to draw back under the overhang and move towards the entrance situated behind the baboon head that covered the front of the nightclub. Moving inside Valaik sighed, he gloomy scene outside fitting his mood too closely for comfort, his experience back at his warehouse had shaken him badly. He hadn't told Flatbed what happened, saying that he had a bad headache and fired his gun in anger, but that was far from the truth.
Bonefish had showed up tonight and he had felt as if he would panic, but it was no image that had appeared but the real thing. It was getting hard for him to sleep, his sleep plagued by nightmares of faces, snears of hatred or roaring laughter surrounding him with no hope of escape. It was getting to him, already he hated being in crowded area, the voices and faces comming to him the less he could focus. Even this afternoon he had heard the voices, standing with some Spartan's in Omni-HQ, he had heard the laughter on the wind, playing it off as the water to the others present.
Slowly he moved across the main dance floor and then the laughter started, glancing from side to side he saw no one but it was there, growing louder and louder. Slowly he cast his gaze upwards to the walkway and there they stood, the phantoms that haunted him, eerie figures in the likeness of people he knew. Bonefish, Lehx, Chadul, Garrisen, Thelonis, Goltan, and Fyarr were easily seen standing among the crowd, all roaring in laughter, a neverending stream that could not be produced by the living. Then the pain started, the splitting headache that always accompanied their appearance, and Valaik dropped down to his knees as his hands clutched his head. Trying to drive away the pain as the laughter continued Valaik crawled across the ground, trying to get into the back room away from his tormentors, away from the laughter. The pain grew and grew inside his mind, feeling as if his head would explode at any moment, it was worse than ever before and the laughter would not stop.
"You are pathetic...", "You're gonna die little man...", "You taught me well, Old friend...", "I told you I'd get you one day...", "Time to die..." spoke the chorus from above, dozens of voices overlapping, all with the same tone, one of promised pain.
Valaik screamed as he finally collapsed to the ground, laying in the middle of the dancefloor, and conciousness slipped away as the pain became all he knew and finally he felt nothing. He lay there for many minutes, then his eyes began to open, his body beginning to stir slowly then rise to his feet. Valaiks eyes openned fully and in them there was something darker, something that was not their before, and that thing looked around in eyes with eyes that belonged to another. On the walkway stood the phantoms, standing quiet as they all watched the figure below, something that had not seen the light in a very long time. Then Valaik smiled, more a evil snarl than anything else, and it was then he spoke.
"Ahhhhh, Time for some fun..." again a cruel smile spread across Valaik's features, his eyes flashing with barely contained madness.
Valaik moved for the door, diggin in his pack and withdrawing a glowing blue blade and laughing maniaclly when it was in his hand, slashing at the air a few times before nodding his acceptance. Moving out into the night the thing that was not quite Valaik disappeared into the shadows. Moments later a womans scream pierced the night air, its source unknown but nearby, then another scream, this one a much deeper voice, and then their was quiet.
Valaik shot up from the bed in the office of Baboons, panting as he remembered the nightmare he had just had. The phantoms taunting him and the pain overtaking him, releasing something he had hoped he would never see again. A part of him that he had buried so many years ago, the part that loved to hurt and kill, the part of himself that always filled him with disgust. Shaking his head slowly he tried to remember more of the dream, his head hurting a bit as he did so. Images of people huddled under bridges and overhangs trying to get out of the rain, then blood running down the streets from corpses that had been sliced open, throats slit and others decapitated. A reflection of his own face, covered in blood, a maniacal grin spread across his features.
Valaik stood up and ran his fingers through his hair, then felt something running down his face, wiping at it he moved his hand in front of his face. His hand was covered with blood and Valaik felt himself panic, standing up and sweeping his eyes around the office and stopping on the far wall. On the wall was written a single word, Fun, spelled out in blood with the glowing blue blade stuck in the wall just below it. Valaik fell backwards onto the floor, sliding back until his back pressed against the wall, pulling his knees up to his chest and curling his arms around them. Tears began to fall from his eyes as he sat there, knowing now that all he thought was a dream was not, fearing what would happen if he ever again closed his eyes.
((Those who read it before I originally removed the story will notice few changes, I could not for the life of me get it to my liking so I stayed with a slightly changed version of the original.))
- AO webcomics for the sake of being silly
