Archive of Our Own

On the first day, my mind was foggy. For some reason I could not remember a single thing, maybe I hit my head during the crash, maybe just too many things were happening at once and I could not follow them, or maybe the fucking Federation did something to me before arriving. 

And honestly, I do not care anymore, whatever may be the answer.

In any way, I can only say the first day was simple enough. We, the Brazilians, crashed on the island. A simple cute flag puzzle was solved and we were freed from the confines of the cargo ship soon enough.

It was a very hectic day, with people screaming, being welcoming, and introducing themselves to each other. When it was my turn to introduce myself, I blanked. The first thing I decided to talk about was enigmas and mysteries, oh how much I like those little puzzles that help me keep my mind ever so busy.

It is easy to ignore the underlying feelings and thoughts when you are busy, spending entire days and weeks running around after a single clue that may lead no fucking where.

It is just so easy.

After that, I warned them that I would probably end up killing someone on the island at some point in the future. Flashes of knives and blood ran deep under the surface of my charade. But it wasn’t something strange to say, everyone was speaking something along those lines.

Nobody at the time thought anything about it. When everyone has infinite lives it is easy to brush off the ramblings of killing someone someday. 

Did you know the respawn time is different depending on how they die?

People even praised my bravery in saying those words.

Nobody knew.

When I first saw Pac and Mike I felt… Strange… There was something about the blue-hooded man I could not quite pinpoint. There was something running deep in him, something I couldn’t quite grasp.

So I ignored it.

Something told Cellbit there was no point in living by chasing his own feelings and pleasures. He suppressed it like he suppressed a lot of other things.

A lot of dangerous things.

At some point in the night, Cellbit looked, really looked, towards a dark-hooded figure. They were tall and lean, and their body was cloaked in shadows. The cloak covering their bodies was the purest of blacks, with some strokes of red on the seams.

Since arriving at the island Cellbit knew he had forgotten some things. Well, he never remembered everything there was to remember in his memories, there was always that underlying fuzzy feeling that he always seemed to have forgotten something. Something that was always at the tip of his tongue but he could never quite grasp at it. But this time, the sensation was different, like there were some pieces missing; important pieces he knew had a meaning.

Puzzle pieces that together made him, well, himself.

And then there it was. Like thunder in the dark of the night, screams and shouts surrounding a forest. He was covered in mud, grime, and blood. A knife at the ready in his hand, a single person in front of him, a young man who looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Get them!” A voice screamed. A man surrounded by mystery and cloaked by pure darkness. He was fairly certain it was not even human at this point.

He didn’t think twice, with a feral scream he jumped, the knife entering the soft flesh of the stomach. Blood spattered from their mouth. He heard another scream as the demon killed someone else.

Cellbit smiled and greeted. “Long time no see, old friend,” He said happily towards the hooded figure, who greeted him back in kind.

Just like that, the first day came and went, it was chaotic and hectic, people were screaming, singing, dancing, and at all times just happy. 

But he still could sense it, people were just pretending. Just like him. Everyone seemed to be worried about something and he could quite not understand why.

It all started to go into crazy land with a buzz from a wide server message in everyone’s pockets; almost everyone had spent the night in the pizzeria, followed by an early morning party in Casualonas. 

Philza was the first one to read it. He screamed at the top of his lungs how ‘they’ were back. Cellbit did not understand at first why, but everyone started screaming and running towards, what he managed to overhear, was called the adoption center. 

It didn’t take long for everyone to arrive and once there they found eggs, strangely enough. The little things were sentient, they could walk with the aid of little feet coming out from under their shells. Everyone seemed to have an egg. And he thought it was the craziest thing he had ever seen in his entire life, even when he didn’t remember more than half of it!

The other Brazilians who arrived on the cargo ship also thought it strange. It was beyond strange really. 

Foolish was the first one to notice, sending a server-wide message about how there seemed to be ‘a new egg’ that buzzed in everyone’s pocket.

When Cellbit arrived people were cooing and ogling at the small thing. It had two feet like every other egg, with one slightly crooked. It also wore a yellow and green football shirt atop its round shell.

The egg seemed confused, and could only speak using signs. The first thing Cellbit thought at the time was how ‘useless’ the thing seemed, laughing at the impossibility of the situation. It was slow, didn't seem to be able to properly respond to them or take care of itself, and it seemed just so fragile.

Oh, how fragile it seemed.

Someone around him asked what the egg was going to be called. Forever screamed at the top of his lungs how the egg should be called “ Brazuquinha ” as a joke because that was all it was at the time, an elaborated joke about a fucking sentient egg.

Cellbit tried to be a little more serious about it despite the situation. He thought he was a level-headed man, and even though it seemed absurd, he wouldn’t let people call the thing Brazuquinha. It was just too fucking shameful. He refused to be forced to call it that.

The first name that came to mind was Enzo, like a whisper. He did not like it. It was too common, too uncharacteristic.

Right after that another name popped up in silent whispers. “Richarlyson,” He spoke in synchrony with the phantoms in his mind. “ Richarlyson! Ele vai se chamar Richarlyson ” He screamed.

The other Brazilians instantly agreed with his idea, after all, the egg WAS wearing a football shirt.

The same way it started, it didn’t take long for everyone to disappear, glad to have their eggs back from some mysterious kidnapping, everyone preoccupied with the little fragile things. Cellbit didn’t take the task of taking care of an egg too seriously, he found it strange and kinda ugly at first to be honest. He also had too much to do because the islanders didn’t give them much stuff before wishing them good luck in fending for themselves. Everyone was just so preoccupied with the puny eggs.

Taking Felps with him they entered into a cave and started exploring. The egg followed closely behind them because every other Brazilian had one plan or another, leaving the straggler with its crooked leg behind.

Cellbit and Felps started mining, gathering bits of iron here and there. Felps was talking with the egg without a care in the world. 

And then it happened.

It was too fast.

He looked away for a second before some crazy-strong skeleton appeared and shot Felps right in the heart. He saw the message about his friend and ran to help him up. But the skeleton was too strong.

He was too weak.

He also fell to the ground. Feeling the time ticking by, his blood flowing out of his veins, slowly being drained on the cold floor. He hadn’t felt that for a long, long time.

Then he saw it.

Richarlyson ran towards them. Trying to save them from a fate that would not be eternal, not this time at least. He screamed for Richarlyson to run, he didn’t know why, but seeing someone trying to help him after so long. So so long. Running towards him instead of away. 

It made him feel something he could not quite describe.

The monster saw the little thing running, Cellbit screamed when he saw an arrow flying over his head, hitting the egg right into its fragile shell. It didn’t die at the first arrow though, it was a strong little guy. Cellbit screamed for him to get away, he and Felps could come back but the egg? People had warned them. The egg had only two lives. Only one chance at coming back with respawn magic. Richarlyson started running, he turned away and bolted towards the stairs.

The little egg was not fast enough.

It was weak like he had become.

The skeleton released the bowstring, and a second arrow hit him in the back. The delicate shell cracked, spilling its contents on the cold stone floor.

He looked towards Felps and saw the other man’s body dissipating in the air with the aid of magic. He knew what was coming next. The timer ran out and he felt the tingling sensation starting from his fingertips. He felt himself floating in the void for a millisecond and then he felt the warm sensation.

It was time to respawn.

He and Felps died once more trying to reach the cave from spawn. The monsters seemed to be just. So. Strong.

They didn’t arrive in time.

He was just oh. So. Weak.

Couldn't arrive in time.

Richarlyson’s death message appeared over in the server-wide chat. No one even knew they were deep down inside a cave. No one could reach him in time.

The other Brazilians quickly found them and started asking what had happened, Pac and Mike went over to Richarlyson and made sure the kid was okay after respawning. Cellbit could only gaze with shame toward the little permanent crack in the kid’s shell. Just like the scars that littered his body.

He decided to lie.

They spoke about how a strange dark-cloaked figure appeared in the cave, using a magical staff to produce dozens of skeletons, and how they bravely fought but ended up dying to its demonical powers. Cellbit didn’t know why, but he could not stop lying. He could not say he was irresponsible. That the death of the egg could have been prevented. Shame was building up inside of him at a fast pace. But he kept on lying.

He was always good at it anyway.

With Pac and Mike being deemed responsible for the kid after the fiasco, the second day ended. Cellbit decided to finally go to sleep.

On the next day, he woke up late into the evening to a message. Richarlyson had died again. He cursed and jumped out of bed, how could this have happened? He cursed himself once more for being attached to such a fragile thing.

Fragile things always die first.

He remembers being attached to something fragile in the past. He can’t quite pinpoint what it was though. Sitting on his bed Cellbit rubbed his hands on his face with frustration. He needs to find something to investigate and soon.

Otherwise, bad things will start to happen.

Getting out of bed he saw the little project Forever started, calling the little hill they found favela and building little makeshift houses just to have a ceiling over their heads for the night. Everyone had to sleep in the same house, but the blonde guy seemed to have been making small progress during the early morning.

It was evening now and Cellbit craved a cup of coffee very much. He really needed that coffee.

He could even kill for it at this point.

Rubbing his eyes Cellbit looked over to Pac and Mike, and then he rubbed his eyes again. Richarlyson was right there.

‘ Mas que porra ’ He thought and ran over.

It didn’t take long for them to tell him the federation had annulled Richarlyson’s first death because it was on the first day, and they quite literally had nothing to protect him with.

Cellbit’s mind started to spiral. Nobody knows for certain how respawn magic works, just that it works, and he figured there was some kind of universal law that stated the eggs could only respawn once, letting them have measly 2 lives. But that was not factual. There was something on this island called federation, and for some reason, they could control how many times the eggs could come back. That was…

Interesting.

It didn’t take long for Cellbit to start obsessing with the Federation. They just had way too many secrets. There was an ugly bear-looking bastard called Cucurucho who seemed to know way too much, and shared way too little. He found a group of people dedicated to understanding what the federation was, and what Cucurucho wanted.

The fucking bear was almost a mythical legend at that point in time. Some people had seen it while others had only heard about it. People were conflicted, and the only thing they knew for certain was the existence of the eggs, a dragon mother, and a wall that was destroyed by the press of a button.

It was all so…

Exciting!

His mind was working miles per second, puzzle after puzzle. He watched tapes of videos given to them by the Federation introducing the island and the eggs over and over, trying to find a single droplet of information.

Nothing was out of bounds, and his efforts doubled after he confronted Cucurucho, only to be punished by a chainsaw. He could sometimes still feel the phantom sensation of wooden stakes making gaping holes on his entire back when the fucker pushed him inside that cursed hole.

He had to save that idea for later.

And Richarlyson? 

Richarlyson was always there. The little rascal. His little son. He was funny, didn’t know how to write well in Portuguese still, loved to paint, and loved to get into various shenanigans. He had a Glock he got somehow and kept shooting up into the air, being called the king of the Favelas.

He started to love the kid.

Little by little.

It didn’t take long for him to fully obsess and commit to the enigmas of the island, for him to help the ‘theories bros’ to build an entire organization now called ‘ordo teoritas’. And then there was…

Roier.

The Mexican who captivated his heart over his time on the island. He was funny, he was pretty, and he always was there by his side, no matter what. Even when he ‘supposedly’ went crazy. He dressed himself in strange clothes, hiding his eyes behind red goggles so no one could see how puffy they were from the hurt he was feeling at hurting his friends.

He had grown weak.

Both inside and out.  

He had grown too attached to the other Brazilians.

There was Pac and Mike, who remembered him from Alcatraz. At first, Pac seemed to be very fearful of him, and it took a long night’s explanation on the first days to convince them he was not the same man from that prison.

Liar.

Then there was forever, the happy-go-lucky guy who did everything and beyond to keep their kid safe from the dangers of the island.

And finally, there was Felps who, quite frankly, was Felps. His friend had been missing for months now.

It felt like he was stabbing at his own heart every time he had to lie through his teeth. Every time he had to look Forever in the eyes and tell him how much he despised the blond man; seeing those blue eyes staring deep into his soul with so much hatred.

Oh what delicious hatred it was.

He wondered how those eyes would look with despair plastered on them.

It didn’t take long for him to find out. 

It was just a matter of saying how he was going to take all the custody from their kid to himself and be pretty convincing at it.

Roier was the only one who believed him. Who heard the truth from his venom-filled mouth and believed it even without any proof at the time. That was the moment Cellbit came to know Roier was special.

When everything was said and done, he was taken by the Federation. 

The fuckers did something to him, but he didn’t know what. Four days of his life were blank. There was nothing on them. But it felt strange, like static. He knew something had happened, he did not know what. He could not remember for the life of him.

Felps had a big bruise on his arm, like a piece of it was removed and necrotic tissue was growing around the missing skin. It looked ugly.

Cellbit’s hair had now a completely white streak on it, and everyone kept talking and speculating about how he was turning into another Cucurucho. How he was going to be crazy and how he was going to betray everyone at some point.

Oh how right they were.

The only one who still believed him was Roier. And at that moment Cellbit knew he was the one. The one and only. It didn’t take long for him to propose. At first, it was an innocent joke, but Roier readily accepted, so fuck it, he would be married soon!

At least, he believed so, until the fucking ugly old fart appeared. The man claimed to be Roier’s grandfather. He was annoying, his skin was so wrinkled it seemed like he had some kind of disease, and he smelled like rotten meat for some reason.

Cellbit hated him.

Oh how much he wanted to kill that old man. His underlying thoughts flowed up from the depths to the surface in angry bubbles, floating right under his skin every time he touched his knife. but he had to hold himself back. 

He could not kill the old man.

Not yet at least.

But once Roier was his.

Oh how much he would LOVE to get his knife right into that man’s stomach.

How much he fantasized about his broken screams during late hours into the dark of night.

At this point, his macabre-looking castle was already finished, and the old fucking man kept visiting him day in and day out. He tried to kill the man a few times, but it either didn’t go as planned, the fucker was way too lucky for his own good , or Richarlyson managed to stop him right before something serious happened.

His sweet little boy was so invested in his marriage. He could not disappoint him. Since Bobby’s death, Richarlyson has had a sweet spot for Roier, alongside Cellbit. They needed to give him a reason to find a family again, not that they could ever substitute his lost son, but they all loved Bobby, and they could keep sharing the little guy’s memories amongst themselves.

They could be…

Happy .

And then it happened. The old fucker kept saying how he was going to get Roier to call off the engagement, how he hated Cellbit’s guts and would like to see him die. They were in the kitchen when the screaming match started.

There was a kitchen knife by the counter.

While screaming how he would kill Abueloier Cellbit’s hands moved as if by instinct. An electric shot flowed out into his veins when he felt the cold metal touch his fingers. He concealed the knife behind his back and approached the old fucker while screaming at him, telling him how he would never separate him from Roier.

His love.

His everything.

His and only His.

The first stab was the slowest. He relished the look of the man's face as the blade dug deep inside his belly. Oh, how he LOVED the feeling of the hard metal cutting through flesh and going deep inside the soft abdomen. He had missed this feeling. Oh how much he missed this. The second stab was faster, and the third one even faster.

He kept on doing it. Stab after stab. Blood splattered on the tiled floor of the kitchen, on his clothes, on his hands, even on his face and hair.

He didn't even know what he was stabbing anymore, just ravishing the feeling. He felt bone, skin, organs, and viscera. He knew by heart the little differences between each location. He had done it so many times.

So many bodies.

Delicious bodies.

Why had he even stopped doing it again?

And then it was over, as soon as it started. The old man fell from the balcony right outside his kitchen. Its body lay sprawled on the floor below.

Richarlyson had seen it all. He had even encouraged Cellbit to do so.

Oh how proud he was of the little rascal.

They went outside and hid the still bleeding body in the bushes, Cellbit almost threw up at the rotten smell the body was giving out. This thing was strange. It was not normal, not in a million years. 

Getting back inside they started cleaning. It was like nothing had ever happened.

Until the thing came back. The old fuck had somehow been found by the federation, and they helped it back onto its feet.

And then Roier called off the wedding.

Cellbit raged and raged and raged inside his castle. He then went out to kill mob after mob to try and contain his rage. He could not kill the old fucker. Roier cared about the thing too much apparently. Richarlyson was the one who found him, long aware of how one of his dads let out steam by killing things. Sometimes with fire, other times with swords, oftentimes with a kitchen knife. He was very convincing at the time.

Cellbit was compelled to decide it was not over, he would keep on trying. 

He could not afford to lose Roier.

Festa Junina was right around the corner. And he used the opportunity to try and salvage his marriage… 

It didn’t go well.

In a desperate attempt to get Roier to, at least, say if he even still loved him or not, Cellbit advertised to everyone inside the church how Quackity was going to be his Festa Junina husband. 

Roier got really mad at him and decided to leave.

OF COURSE he would, what was Cellbit even thinking? Trying to manipulate Roier?

Like he manipulated so many others?

He spent the entire night drinking his sorrows in wine. Usually, he would not drink alcohol as it made things… Harder… To control… To contain… Too many emotions started to bubble up when he drank too much of the blood-colored liquid. Too many memories found their way into his mind, and phantom tastes he could not indulge himself with anymore suddenly appeared on his tongue.

But he didn’t care anymore.

He didn’t care what others may think anymore.

Well, maybe Richas…

Forever was the first one who found him drunk mindlessly on a bench somewhere in the Favelas . The blond Brazilian was also trying to do the same plan Cellbit did, with a little bit more success, because he at least didn’t lose a marriage over it.

They talked late into the night. Forever making sure Cellbit always had water and something to eat before he killed himself by alcohol intoxication. At some point in the night, Cellbit does have the fuzzy memory of jumping off a cliff, and Forever running after him to make sure he didn't die.

Oh how much he wanted to die and never respawn again that night.

He had grown very weak.

Giving up like that.

Should at least take the island with him.

The next day he and Roier talked, Jaiden convincing the man to talk things over and try to understand what was going on.

Cellbit decided to go clean with the cute Mexican this time. Well, not 100% of the truth, but how it happened, and why it happened. They also had a long talk about Cellbit’s past, with some selected things still kept in concealment from the man. Cellbit has been doing better now. He deserves to keep one secret or another. 

No one has actually died so far. 

Regrettably  

Roier also talked, he didn’t remember much from before the island. But he liked his ‘gatinho’ too much. For some reason, Roier also felt he could not let go of Cellbit, no matter what the guy does. Words were exchanged, and apologies were made.

The wedding was a success. 

It was the happiest day of his life.

After the ceremony, his life seemed to be finally back on track. He was making the order stronger than ever, he had access to a lot of new information while working for the federation, the puzzles and mysteries were piling up by the day, and he even had his own coffee shop, alongside coffee supplies.

The dark beverage did wonders for his cravings. 

It was not the same

He could practically live off of the stuff!

He could not.

The only thing bothering him now was the ‘entity’ that was apparently inhabiting his son’s body and painting genius art pieces. For some reason, whenever his son woke up and saw the canvas he painted while sleepwalking he tried to burn it.

Cellbit was well-versed in the paranormal, but what was happening with his son was something completely new.

At the same time too much seemed to be happening too quickly. 

People would disappear and reappear almost overnight. Forever was elected president of the island after Cellbit and the blond brazilian fought tooth and nail to get him into that position. The federation started new buildings and projects, more people arrived at the island making the small community grow exponentially.

His mind was always preoccupied with something in between splitting his time with Roier and Richas back home, to working in the order, to following leads the federation gave him on old islanders from who knows how long ago.

And then it happened.

The eggs disappeared.

One day they were all there, and the next, they were gone! Their clothes were the only thing left behind.

The federation did nothing about it.

They kept repeating ‘classified’ over and over.

He is gonna kill them.

Every single one of them.

If his son does not come back safe.

Everyone was going a little bit more insane by the hour. It had happened before, sure, but when the second week went by and the federation kept repeating those damn words over and over, people could not bear it any longer.

Forever was the first one to burst. But the federation did quick work before he could permanently damage something important.

The president was put on drugs.

Mike disappeared at some point, leaving Pac alone. And it didn’t take long for Pac to also take the pills.

Cellbit felt alone for the first time in a long time. It seemed like there was only he and Roier left in the entire island. Every other Brazilian, every other important person from his life at the time was slowly disappearing, either being kidnapped, or drugged beyond their minds.

Oh how much he just wants to… Burst.

Let it go.

Grab the knife and start stabbing.

Stab.

Stab.

Stab.

Stab.

Yet, he couldn’t. 

He was the last one of the Brazilians. 

He was the leader of the order. 

He had to help them; 

help his family . 

Even when his hands twitched. Even in the dark of night when his mind was consumed by screams and his mouth filled with a phantom irony taste. He kept on fighting. He kept on restraining himself, sharpening his defenses, strengthening more and more the lid that hid what was bubbling under the surface.

The pressure was building up.

And it would keep on building up.

Roier was the only one able to calm him down. How much the man helped him suppress those pent-up feelings was incredible. It was extraordinary the lengths he would force himself to go for the pretty Mexican. And Roier, who was entirely unaware of his effects on Cellbit, was right to convince the cannibal to keep those things bottled up inside. O que os olhos não vêem, o coração não sente.... 

And then Pac did it. Without ceremony, the little scared mouse from back in the prison was a genius! Managing to create an antidote even in his drug-filled state.

Cellbit didn’t lose even a single day, working with Bad Boy Halo and Philza to create a plan so they could cure both Forever and Pac.

In his withdrawal stupor, the president revealed a lot of information to them.

“Something was coming to the island, it was scarier than the codes and the federation. The eggs have run away from it” He said, screaming at Cellbit as if he was the incarnation of Cucurucho in the room inside of the order.

I bet I’m scarier.

It was like some kind of prophecy or something. They could not fully comprehend it, but words spread around like fire on the island. Soon, every islander knew about it, and everyone started preparing.

Cellbit kept on his investigation without interruptions. He kept on working with hopes of finding some information, anything really. Be it related to the eggs as his top priority. The thing that was coming to the island was the second one. And the federation itself is the third one. 

After all. Once Richarlyson was back they needed to find a way to escape. This place is way too dangerous for his son. There is no way they are staying in this hellish place with torturer bears and code abominations trying to kill them at every step.

But he also could feel it. How Roier was feeling more drained each day. How even he was starting to crack, little by little. No matter how long he kept investigating, he kept running around and solving puzzles. There was this underlying feeling of static always accompanying him.

He knew what it was.

The pressure was building up.

Ever so slowly the lid was forced open.

Soon.

He started avoiding Pac. The blue hooded guy would for sure notice the little ticks, the trembling in his hands, the bags under his eyes, the slouch of his shoulders, the way he started licking his lips every few hours.

It was easy to do so. Pac would usually wake up right after midday, and he was waking up when the sun was setting. They almost didn’t see each other, and when they did, there was too much going on for Pac to really pay attention.

He could keep himself contained.

No, he couldn’t.

He had done so for a while now.

He wouldn't last much longer.

He wouldn’t go back.

Oh, it was so close.

A new islander appeared at some point in all the chaos, shrouded by mystery. She was called Bagi, wore clothes suspiciously like his, and her hair had literally the colors of his hair, but inverted, with a brunette strike instead of a white one.

She claimed to be vegetarian. 

She claimed to be weak and hopeless. 

But Cellbit could see the way she moved, the way she presented herself, and how her cold blue eyes stared at everyone methodically. He knew that stare way too well. Bagi was capable enough, she had either decades of training or years of experience. She was also too smart for her own good and claimed to not remember anything from before the island.

While he could not judge her for it, her timing and connection with the maze did not feel right to Cellbit.

It didn’t take long for a rivalry to start. It was innocent enough, with her claiming the stray cat named ‘Zeno’ he had taken under his wing was actually hers. They fought over him tooth and nail, deciding finally in a co-parenting style.

He also did not quite like her, because every time she appeared he felt uncomfortable. They were too similar. 

Way too similar for his liking. 

It felt strange.

It felt wrong.

What if she was a clone from when he was kidnapped?

What if the federation was trying to substitute him with her?

What if she was a spy?

There were simply way too many what-ifs and no single answer.

And then, one day, he woke up to find a chest in the middle of his stairway. Inside were a few pages which seemed to have been ripped out from an old diary. 

‘The pages told a story about someone who had lost their twin brother. 

How they were as close as glue and loved each other very much. 

Of how both loved mysteries and puzzles. 

How this missing brother was called Cellbit, 

and how this mysterious person was a little girl called Bagi’

At first, he had no reaction.

Nothing.

He blinked slowly.

He didn't know what he was supposed to feel.

Oftentimes he just copied what people around him were doing. If people laughed he laughed as well, if people cried he cried as well. 

In time he mastered that ability of playing pretend. 

He mastered it so well he could sometimes feel it, feel the bubbly feeling of happiness, the butterflies of love, and the pain of sadness.

But it all paled in wake of the sizzling hot electric shock of anger. 

The beating drums of adrenaline . 

The sweet nectar of blood. 

Nothing could even compare to those feelings.

So, he traced the runes of spawn, where he saw the only person he would ever 100% believe in the island. 

Bad boy halo.

The one and only who knew his entire truth .

Who knew his entire self.

The truth that lived just under the surface .

He gave the book to Bad. 

His mind was blank. 

He didn’t know how to feel.  

He didn’t know how to pretend. 

He needed instructions.

He heard them as a barely audible whisper. ‘Kill Tina’ the demon ordered mischievously. Blinking Cellbit stroked his blade and looked around robotically, his eyes dilating and hiding his freezing cold stare in the dark excitement.

“Whoa what, who said that?” Bad blurted out loud, staring at Cellbit in shock when the man turned around to stare at the girl who was targeted. 

Cellbit turned back slowly towards the demon, his eyes dilated, hands shaking; he was ready to bolt in pursuit. Bad silently shuddered at the thought of what would happen to Tina if Cellbit had gone through with the order. He could still vividly remember the screams.

But before anyone could properly address the situation that was created Bagi appeared from the waypoint in Spawn. 

Cellbit felt nothing still. 

Like he was just there, but not all there.

Something deep below was rumbling. He couldn’t quite pinpoint what.

They went into the castle to talk more privately. Bagi confronted him, demanding to know why he hadn’t said anything to her about being her long lost brother.

Cellbit screamed back how he had never had a sister. 

They fought in a screaming match, drops of water constantly falling from Bagi’s eyes while Cellbit’s cold stare kept locked into her crying ones.

She screamed about how she had spent the last 15 years searching for him. He screamed back how he was forced to be a killing machine. She screamed how she ultimately did not care that he had killed people before.

He didn't want any of this.

He never asked for this. 

His head throbbed in pain.

He didn’t know what to do. 

For the first time in a long time, he was at a loss. 

Cellbit did the only thing he knew would get people away from him. He bared his canines and screamed how he had consumed flesh before. 

Oh, how he missed eating it. 

It didn’t work.

She took his hand instead and told him to follow her. He simply blinked and did what he was told. 

His head throbbed in pain once more. 

It was simply easier to just follow someone else’s orders anyway.

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at a green two-story house on the island. It was modest, had a small garden in the front yard, and it seemed to have been abandoned for a long, long time.

Inside, the house smelled like mold and dust. Cobwebs littered the entire place. Something felt wrong while right at the same time. 

There was a feeling, like something right at the tip of his tongue, something important. But he could not quite pinpoint it, so he just ignored the feeling, and let his mind blank over.

When the tour was over, Bagi gave him things. 

Things that did not belong to him. 

Whoever they belonged to had died decades ago. 

He wants to deny it, to say she is lying, the island is lying, the federation is lying. But their similarities are too much. When he got back home he went straight into the fear room. 

His mind felt like static.

He felt so fucking tired.

He took a flint and steel.

It wasn’t him.

He lit up a fire.

It wasn’t him.

It wasn’t him.

He took out a still-living worm from his pocket.

It wasn’t him.

It wasn’t him.

It wasn’t him.

He threw it in the fire and watched as the thing contorted this way and that way in pain for a few minutes before getting the sweet release of death.

It wasn’t him.

It wasn’t him.

It wasn’t him.

He took a book next. The flames consumed the pages ever so eagerly.

It wasn’t him.

It wasn’t him.

It wasn’t him.

A wooden sword was next on the list. It just served as fuel to the fire that was consuming the corner of his room.

It wasn’t him.

It wasn’t him.

It wasn’t him.

He took out a drawing. 

There were two stick figures on it, a boy and a girl. 

They seemed. 

Happy… 

He lifted the drawing to the yellow flames, but his hand refused to open. 

…

A small kid with a slightly crooked leg, a green and yellow football shirt, and a mooshroom cap was intently at him from a distance in a field of flowers, by his side his beloved brother wearing his blue overhauls and holding his beloved gun. 

They were smiling. 

He quickly put the page inside his pocket.

Licking his lips Cellbit killed the fire by putting a bucket over it, and left the ashes in the corner of the room; not bothering to clean them.

Deciding he was too tired for this shit he threw himself into the dark bed inside the room and closed his eyes.

The next day was going to be a big day. 

Cucurucho was going to do a big presentation, and they had to steal it. The fucking bear was going to talk about important things, so Cellbit tried to pay attention even when his eyes felt sloppy. He had slept for a good while, but he still felt so fucking tired.

It was really chaotic to get everyone inside the tunnels with a limited supply of invisibility potions. 

They managed to watch two points of the presentation before all hell broke loose when the potion time ran out. Guards quickly started to fill the tunnels. They had been found.

People ran, at the end of the corridor there was a room with rows upon rows of locked doors, containing locked chests inside. 

The A0 project, or mini-mes, could be found there.

They were quick to steal them all, or at least, most of them.

Once the chaos was over and Cellbit saw his stolen mini-me back at home he noticed how he had felt nothing during the entire ordeal… This was the biggest project the psychopathic bear had and he destroyed it! Yet. He felt nothing.

He was empty.

It was strange…

Richarlyson was the first one who started to tap into his very well-built walls. The kid was just too innocent, too eager to please, and did not care if his father had been locked up in the past. But Richas was just that, just a kid. And while he wanted to see Richas happy, he didn’t quite feel the need to indulge much in his emotions. He could still keep playing pretend with Richas, and his little rascal would never notice.

That was how it was supposed to be.

But then there was Roier, he was different, he was the first that started tipping the cup; getting Cellbit to lean more into his emotions, into the feelings that were running right below the surface of his skin. 

At first, the feeling was innocent enough, he just wanted to be with Roier. 

He wanted to feel happy to feel truly happy.  

To love and feel loved . 

To laugh and make others laugh alongside him .

But deep down inside something still was running through his veins, something deep. Deep into the confines of his mind, always stalking around his well-built walls. 

A pressure that had been building up in the past months. 

No… 

In the past years…

Feelings that run deep; 

deep down into the darkness; 

right below the sunny surface.

He could still remember. 

The irony smell. 

The red ink that came out. 

The helpless screams. 

And no matter how much he lied to himself, he could no longer deny just how much.

He. 

Loved. 

It. 

Every. 

Second. 

Of. 

It.

But he had to do better. For Richalyson, for Bobby, for Roier. He knew how people felt when they discovered the truth about him, about what he had done. About what he still felt the need to do .

It had been a while.

And he was oh so tired.

Tired of playing house.

Tired of playing pretend.

Tired of just pleasing others…

He was at his breaking point

The glass shattered.

The lid was off.

No more playing house.

No more playing pretend.

His son is nowhere to be seen. Bobby is dead. And Roier? Roier wouldn't fucking mind seeing his uglier side. After all, he already knew about it; at least partially. From when he tried to kill that fucking old man and failed.

He licked his lips.

The knife was in his hand.

Static was running through his veins.

It was time to resume the hunt.