Paradise Lost (JSAB)

HALF-CHAPTER Joy

This is a half-chapter, so it's not an official part of the story but it is canon, it doesn't really matter if you read it or not, this is more like a filler thing 

I wrote this a while back, I think way back in July-ish? Idk, it was before most of the events covered below anyways. 

A life without joy is not a life worth living.

For it is happiness that brings light and life into our lives, a seed planted into the ground that will one day grow into a tall, glorious tree.

And it is from that tree that bears the fruits of Love, Hope and Satisfaction. The fruits, which you cannot live without. For it is their sweet juices that bring colour, light and music into our lives. Otherwise everything will be a bitter, miserable mess.

My philosophy is that Happiness is as crucial as food and water. This is why I make sure that all those under me are happy and content with their lives.

Because they mean a lot to me, they really really do. What kind of king would I be if I were to not take care of my subordinates? They do so much for me, this is the least I can do in return for their loyalty.

Let's not forget about me. Above all, I do make sure that I myself am happy and content. Which definitely is happening, of course. I quite like taking a hot bubble bath while drinking wine, with music playing. Some products in the water too, does wonders for the skin. Maybe rose petals, too, for the aesthetic. I take pride in my appearance.

After literal fucking eons stuck in a filthy cave with overgrown flea-ridden hair, who wouldn't be?

My old life, where I was imprisoned, was not worth living. Joy did not exist within those stuffy four walls, where I always felt like I was choking. Now, though? My, I was almost unprepared for the sudden transition from prisoner scum to royal king. It was a beautiful feeling, the sudden happiness from being free, from being in power, from being king. Like experiencing spring after a long, abysmal, harsh winter.

That's why I want this springtime to last forever, and affect as many people as possible.

Barracuda doesn't show her happiness through smiles, which, I admit, took me a while to learn and get used to. I kept on thinking she was unhappy, which she wasn't. I barely see her smile, but I barely see her unhappy either. And when she is unhappy, it's usually annoyance at a particularly stupid joke I made. You don't see it, but you can feel it. A content, satisfied mild type of joy that doesn't show itself in bursts of energy. Passive, Patient, and Placid. Wish she'd smile more often but she seems to dislike doing so.

Lycanthropy, I must say is the opposite. If he's happy, you will know, that boy will literally scream "GUESS WHAT, I'M HAPPY!" from the rooftops if he could. Always smiling, always joking, and although he insists that he is no longer a child, the look on his face when he's given candy or a new video game is frankly worth killing for. It's like bubbles rising from his body, floating around and bursting with little rushes of excitement, like a firework detonating with colour. Barracuda finds this unbearable, I find it adorable.

S.D is a bit of a... Strange case. She seems to view her life as a game, and others as playing pieces. She will come and do as she pleases, and finds fulfilment and happiness without my intervention. Hers is a dark happiness, a sadistic joy that comes from doing whatever she wants, whenever she wants. If others have to suffer, then so be it. She is independent, being fully capable of finding whatever pleasures life has to offer without anyone's help. I usually leave her alone. Plus, she has... Questionable methods to find entertainment.

Close to Me... Every single time I see him, without fail, there is not a single trace of joy in his being. Not even contentment, not even satisfaction. The very fibre that stitches his body together is made from pure misery. He never smiles, even Barracuda smiles on occasion! Not even when I see him with his supposed "beloved darling". There must be some sort of void in his heart, like a parasite that eats away at his psyche. Nothing I have ever done coaxed even the smallest of smiles. Nor the slightest indication of amusement. There was just emptiness. I later realised, after some thought, that this parasite was corruption itself. Shame, but not much I can do about it. Poor thing. I pity him. Being stuck in a never-ending cycle of depression and misery.

Not to mention all the littler minions I have beneath me. Mindless as they are, they're still human beings with personalities, with interests and passions, likes and dislikes. They live comfortably and I converse with every now and then. Learn about what I missed during the thousands of years I spent isolated. They seem to like me. I also never forget a name. I go to great lengths to make sure that those I hold dear, those who have done me favours, and those who work under me are happy. It makes me happy, too, knowing that they're thriving.

The only thing I love more than giving happiness, however, is taking it away.

What about those who have wronged me? Who go against me? Who are my enemy? Well, in that case, with a smile on my face I shall destroy the roots, tearing a hole in the earth and leaving nothing but a cold, empty hole. All of its fruits are now gone. Forever. Happiness? Gone. Love? Gone. Hope? Gone. Satisfaction? Gone. Gone, gone, GONE.

And with the wood from the tree I shall build gallows where they will hang from like pathetic dogs.

When Neptune tried to attack me, I gouged out his eye and left him for a slow, agonising death of thirst and starvation, leaving his disgusting fish body to rot.

When Skye tried to escape, killing a few of my underlings in the process, I gave her two choices- betray her people like a coward or die of exhaustion.

When S.D threatened to blackmail me, I set her on fire, covering her death up as her simply deciding to run away, dying like the bitch she was.

And the Guardians. Oh how I relished watching the look on Tetra's face when I told it that I was going to kill its beloved. Doesn't matter if he ended up turning into Close to Me, the screams and howls of despair almost made me shed tears of joy.

That's why I make their pathetic, worthless fucking lives so much more pathetic. Because they do not even deserve happiness. They do not even deserve the very thing that separates a sane human being from a howling madman.

The pain in Neptune's voice when his eye was mutilated. The despair in Skye's face she realised it was betrayal or death. The animalistic horror in S.D's eyes right before I killed her. The realisation that Trist was going to be executed turning Tetra from a defiant rebel to a crying madman.

Happiness is so important to us all, you need happiness if you need sanity. That's why I love to take it away from people who wrong me. To see just how fragile they are, and how easily they can shatter. Nothing gives me more of a kick than to see a bitch screaming and crying in despair and misery. To see them begging for mercy is just hilarious because there's no way that there's any room for remorse in my heart. No such thing as forgiveness. No such thing as lenience.

There's only one thing you'll be getting and that is misery and suffering.

Go on, scream, cry, beg. I won't listen. I'll just rip out another one of your fingernails savouring every single scream you make, knowing that you deserve this for going against me. You do not deserve happiness. You deserve nothing but hell. Your cries will warm my heart during cold nights.

Do this, as I sit there in my warm bath, savouring the taste of a fine glass of champagne. Knowing that you could've been living just as nicely as Barracuda or Lycanthropy or literally ANYONE in my tower, but instead you chose to be a fool and ended up lost in a void of despair and misery.

Because after all now, a life without joy is not a life worth living.