Shudders: Retribution

Chapter 52 - The Despondent

"Is that him..." B whispered to (Y/N) as they both followed behind a young boy who held his mother's hand.

        The two walked through the decrepit streets of a beachside town. The mother kept her son close to him as they entered a small store in hopes of finding anything valuable.

        (Y/N) felt weird seeing the boy and knowing who he grows up into. Xed looked so innocent here. He was quiet, a bit sickly, and didn't smile much. He started coughing as he followed his mother into the small store and she crouched down to him to rub his back. "It's ok. You're body just needs to adjust to your ability, remember?"

"But I don't feel good..." Xed muttered as his small hands held his stomach. "I don't like this, mama..."

"I didn't either. But you'll be fine, I'm sure of it." She encouraged.

       The two girls felt the scenery begin to change as a new memory pushed its way forward. This time, instead of the bright blue sky and sound of waves hitting the shore, the sky became darker and filled with ash, fire rumbling from a building and slowly burning it to the ground as (Y/N) and B looked around.

       (Y/N) turned to the burning building and stepped back when she found Xed again, but this time he looked to be a preteen. He was sitting on the steps just outside the building, alone with dark ash clinging to his sweaty skin. Tears trickled down his face but he didn't sob, more like processing whatever had just happened.

       (Y/N) watched him and tried looking around for his mother... but she was gone. Instead there was the body of a dead Capturer a distance away whose skin was a sickly green and yellow shade and nearby was what looked like fresh tire marks on the ground and a used up dart that was empty.

       When B saw this, she could put together what happened...

       It seemed like as more memories passed, Xed only became more quieter and unemotional as he got older. He didn't look like the demon he grew up to be. His black hair was long and covered most of his face, he had a hunched-over posture, and never really put up a fight toward anything really. It was like he had slowly learned to give up. There wasn't anything or anyone for him to live for. He was soon sprawled out against the road and looking up into the sky as he waited for his inevitable fate. He was a bit older now and sickly thin, clearly starving but he had no motivation to seek out food. No motivation for anything at all. It was a complete contrast to what (Y/N) was used to.

       But she and B began to hear heavy footsteps and looked up to see Zankoku. They were both stunned to see him as the King approached Xed and looked down at him, clearly unimpressed.

"What are you doing?" Zankoku questioned. But Xed didn't answer, he only looked up at the King for a second before his eyes fell back to the sky.

"We need... to go, my... king." Came the low raspy voice of a hunched-over demon who was followed by several lackeys, a muscular demon with a makeshift mallet, and a female demon who carried several pokes on her back.

       A grumbly sigh came from behind the two girls as they turned around to see Reuben had joined them. His eyes settled onto the demons he once knew, they were all dead, except for one.

       Instead of leaving Xed to starve himself to death, the King didn't want to waste the opportunity to claim another lackey. His large reached down and gripped the starving demon by his neck as he created a hold to put onto Xed. The wide-eyed demon weakly grabbed onto Zankoku's hand and pull him off but it was too late. The heart-like hold was created and crawled up toward Xed's mouth as it forced himself inside his jaws and pushed down his throat. He gagged and choked on the organ as it clawed its way to his heart and settled onto it, it was the most painful experience Xed had ever had.