Chapter Text
Black Hole was pretty sure blue was going to be his least favourite colour once he got out of this room, specifically the shade of the faintly glowing walls that he’d been forced to stare at since being kidnapped. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been stuck alone at this point, wherever that number had sent him too lacked any sort of clock or other way to tell time so he was stuck on estimating in his mind. He looked around at the scattered furniture in the room with him almost as if expecting something to change but it never did, still the same table and battered chairs sat in the middle of the room as well as a bookshelf and plant pot against the walls.
The singularity sighed as his vision turned towards the ceiling, from his position sprawled out on the floor he could see the tattered paper stars that hung up there. Honestly, if you had asked him what he felt when he was first taken he would have responded with overwhelming rage, but now it had just simmered down into boredom and tiredness. He preferred dealing with the rift over being stuck here, at least he would be at the hotel near his friends. He could know if they were alive and safe…
So lost in thought Black Hole didn’t hear the soft pop of another person teleporting into the room with him until her cheerful voice sounded out from behind him, cutting through the deafening silence.
“Hi Black Hole!”
The celestial quickly scrambled to his feet, relief filling him at the sound of another person until he turned to face them and realised who had joined him. That simmering anger was already starting to rise again at just the sight of the riftmaker, that eerie smile on her face making his body tense.
“You,” he hissed, accretion disk humming as he took a step towards her. “Where on stars did you take me!? And who are you?”
“That’s not important, but whatever. I’m One.” The woman replied calmly, taking a step back to perch on one of the battered armchairs. “Sorry for taking so long to get to you, I just had some other affairs I had to attend to first. Now, I just need you to sign this and then you can go.”
A soft blue light appeared over the table as a paper and quill appeared, being dropped gently onto the wood before the light faded. Black Hole approached cautiously until he was standing on the other end of the table, uncomfortably aware of One’s sharp gaze locked onto him. Upon closer inspection most of the writing on the contract was illegible, words twisting and blurring into something unrecognisable except the clear line at the bottom for a signature. Yeah he didn’t trust this one bit.
“And what reason do I have to trust you?” Black Hole asked, that simmering anger starting to become present in his voice, “That rift almost destroyed the timeline and now you want me to just… blankly sign this? How idiotic do you think I am?”
One’s face hardened as the singularity spoke with her smile faltering for just a moment, the way her eyes narrowed made him instinctively tense.
“Look Black Hole,” One started, voice still cheery yet lacking its previous warmth, “I need you to stop holding back that rift, and you're going to so let me make this simple for you. Either make this easy and sign or I can’t promise this will end well for you.”
The threat hung in the air as Black Hole looked back down at the contract, contemplating his options. The air around him seemed to grow heavier as if it could sense the tension in the room.
“No,” His voice sounded more confident than the singularity had expected, “I’m not signing.” At the same time he reached out with his gravity, sending the table and the contract on it tumbling to the side before he could let any lingering anxiety change his mind.
There was a pause in the room and as Black Hole looked back up to face One he noticed her smile had dropped and was now looking at him with pure contempt. “Fine, be that way,” she sighed and slipped down to the floor from where she was perched.
One slightly raised her hand, power forming in her palm as a rod of blue light. Black Hole took a cautionary step back, balling his hands as he prepared his own power. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was expecting, conflict certainly, maybe for One to rush forwards to fight him.
What he wasn’t expecting was to feel something suddenly wrapping around his ankle, a sharp tug forward sending the singularity crashing back onto the floor. He hardly had the time to get any bearings, only seeing the blur of One’s arms as she swung down and…
CRACK
His shell shattered under the force of the blow, small pieces flying onto the floor looking like shards of black glass. A sharp cry was ripped from the celestial as pain shot up his leg, it had been so long since anything had come close to injuring him that he’d almost forgotten what physical pain had felt like. Black Hole jerked his leg back almost immediately, using his uninjured leg to push himself back across the floor in an attempt to put some distance between himself and One.
A weak attempt as she closed most of the gap in a single step.
Black Hole kept retreating back as best he could with an injured leg, wincing every time he had to use the limb. He could swear One was enjoying this, advancing just fast enough to leave any attempt to stand vulnerable to another blow while leaving enough room to not be completely crowding him. Dread festered in his chest, a slow build that suddenly engulfed his entire body as his back hit something. The other armchair.
There wasn’t any time to process that he was trapped as he saw One raise her arm again, manic smile on her face. He managed to raise his arm up in protection mere moments before another hit connected, sending another sickening crack echoing across the room. Another wave of pain.
It was getting harder to think over the pain, Black Hole wasn’t used to injury so suffering two big breakages in such a short time was sending his mind into overdrive. Something in him knew he should fight back or do something but then another wave of pain would shoot up his injured limbs and suddenly his arm was giving out and trying to lift himself up seemed almost impossible. In one last feeble attempt at protecting himself Black Hole curled his wings over his body, acting as one last shield as he tried to pull himself together enough to do something, anything.
“Oh no we can’t have that, can we,” One remarked from above, the cheeriness in her voice unsettling. She reached down and grabbed the singularity by the base of his wings, earning another pained cry as she pulled him up and pressed him against the armrest of the chair.
And then she started to pull.
Black Hole’s screams filled the room, the sound of a million cracks could hardly be heard as One started to rip his wings off. He thrashed and struggled, a newfound surge of energy mixing with the agony in his body but it was of little use. There was hardly any leverage from his position and when he did finally manage to get a hold of the integer’s arm it was quickly shrugged off.
Black Hole collapsed forwards as his wings finally gave, the loss of so much mass off his body making him gag as nausea ripped through him. He could feel himself shaking, it was like all the strength had been drained from his body and left him almost a husk. He couldn’t get out more than pained whimpers and sobs, not even enough energy to scream anymore.
One stared down at the singularity sprawled limply on the chair in front of her, her job complete. There was no way he would be able to do anything in this state and she was just about to send him off before a realisation hit her. He would heal, and then he would be a nuisance again. She had to make sure he wouldn’t be a problem again.
There was no resistance as One grabbed Black Hole by the collar, forming her power into a small knife before pressing it into his chest. She let the blade drag up to his shoulder, exposing his glittering core sitting in the middle of his chest. The integer simply reached in, her powers allowing her to grab the celestial’s core with ease. She let her power wrap around it, binding it in magic that would leave him unable to heal. She pulled the threads up and around his neck, anchoring it into a bow not too different from her own.
One opened a portal behind her and with one last cheery ‘Goodbye Black Hole!’ she threw the celestial through and back to the hotel grounds. Let them see what she could do. Let them see how much power she had now.