Paradise Lost (JSAB)

Ashes to Ashes

Okay this chapter might be a bit confusing at first glance, because the sequence of events aren't in order. It goes in the order 2, 1, 3 instead of 1, 2, 3. Also- I'd recommend you reading this in an environment where there aren't many people. You'll see why later.

0820 hours, Random corridor in Tower

Two corrupted, each recently finished with a task unrelated to one another walked down the stairs, along an empty hall, uninhabited by nothing except for a few storage rooms. The middle part of the tower is the least used, acting more as the basement of the tower than the actual basement itself. The halls were practically deserted, but this particular morning, they were surprised by Fresh, king of Corruption, facing against a wall and leaning his head against it. His entire front was obscured by darkness, leaving no possible way to view his expression. The two corrupted instantly stopped dead in their tracks, staring at the strange sight before them. Their king was moping against a wall, muttering to himself.

The two had just exchanged a confused glance when Fresh finally spoke.

"Tell me." His voice was flat and monotone and brushed coldly against the two Corrupted's nerves. "How easily do you think it is for a Corrupted's loyalty to change?"

Slightly taken aback at how he could tell they were there without looking, the two servants took a little while to respond.

"...I doubt it's easy, Your Majesty." One of them, a tall man with a scar poking out of his collar named Aloe replied. "We are bound to you by the corruption."

"And since you are the king of Corruption itself- we regard you as our king." The other one, a smaller woman with short curly hair named Dahlia continued. "You rule over us. It'd be rather hard to want to disobey you, even if we wanted to. We'd have to deal with the instincts from the Corruption first."

Fresh quietly acknowledged their responses, nodding to himself.

"...Right." He said. "Right."

"Why? Are you okay?"

"I'm... Passable." Fresh muttered. "But listen, I need a favour."

"Of course, Your Majesty. What is it?"

Fresh stepped away from the wall, turning towards the two Corrupted and approaching them. His face was unreadable, and... As he approached, Aloe and Dahlia realised that he smelled like smoke. Strange. He glared down his nose at his servants and said each word with a clear, sharp tone.

"You two, come with me. And I swear by my dead, unbeating heart that if either of you two tell ANYONE about this, especially if it's Barracuda or Lycanthropy or even a random fucking Columba floating around the tower, I will pluck out your eyes and force-feed them to you."

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0640 hours, Fresh's quarters, two hours before

Fresh's eyebrows raised. "A bargain?"

"Yes. A bargain."

"...Interesting. I'm curious now. Shall we discuss this-"

"Here. Now." S.D snapped.

"...Here? But-"

"I don't give a shit where we discuss this. We can talk about this in a toilet and I wouldn't care less."

Fresh then realised that she was dead serious about this. This was the most serious he had ever seen her, S.D was so casual and carefree all the time, but now her eyes had a determination behind them that made him curious about her true motives.