Chapter Text
Once they landed, Xander’s limbs were forced forward. His out-of-control limbs wrapped around the pilot and wrapped around his neck. Once he went unconscious, Xander was forcibly turned to Otho. His limbs shook in struggle as he cut Otho’s bindings. Otho shakily rose and spat into the pilot’s mouth. He thudded back down into his seat and turned to Xander. “You really fucked up my plans, you know.”
With an insane level of difficulty, Xander managed to speak. “Good.” Otho bit the inside of his cheek and leered at him. They remained staring as the pilot rose and exited the helicopter. Some soldiers walked over and the pilot told them that Xander rescued someone and was talking to them. The pilot walked off with the others, them wholly unaware of the blue glow hidden by his dark goggles.
As Xander watched in horror, Otho asked a question. “Seriously, what did you inject me with?”
Against his will, Xander answered truthfully. “A poison we made in the labs here.”
Otho grew thoughtful. “Hmm. Is it lethal?”
“Hopefully.”
He smirked. “Are you not sure?”
The next word was shoved out of his throat. “No.” Xander cursed inwardly that he revealed that. Words kept on spilling out. “There’s about a fifty percent chance you’ll die. Your species heals too fast. I figured it was worth the risk.”
Otho turned away and looked up to the sky. His eyes closed slowly and he sat there. Inside his mind, he could feel the pilot infecting others and them infecting others in turn. Some time ago, he sent out a call for others to show up as well. With people now on the inside, they were being let in. He specifically felt someone familiar show up. It was becoming a bloodbath in there and he could feel it all. This caused him to chuckle. All you need is just one thing to go wrong and everything crumbles. It was now that Otho noticed he couldn’t fully feel Xander. It wasn’t a shock but it’s still impressive. Fighting apotheosis off this long, this well, consider him shocked.
The risk that he’d die was too high for his liking. It seems that he’ll have to move the plan up. The two waited for a good thirty minutes before electing to leave the helicopter.
Otho managed to his feet and Xander’s body involuntarily supported him as he walked. His legs stung with each step, still trying to fight His control. Xander started getting drawn into his thoughts, drifting away from surroundings. Why was he fighting? When he stopped thinking, the pain ebbed. Everything felt simpler, he should just give in. Surely, everything will be better if he just listens to His voice. Xander shook himself out of his thoughts. Great, now he can’t even trust himself.
Once he woke up, he saw the carnage. Blood spattered everywhere, screams echoed throughout the halls, bodies twitched and convulsed. Xander tried as hard as he could to run away, to disobey. His body still wouldn’t listen. At this point, he realized where he was being forced to walk to and panicked. They were going to the portal that led to the black and white.
When they entered the portal room, someone was already there. Xander realized with a grimace who it was. “Emma.” Otho cheerily said and ran over to her, ignoring the pain he was feeling. As the two hugged, Xander couldn’t stand his own pain any longer and fell onto the floor.
“You made it.” Otho said as he pulled away. She smiled. “Of course. This isn’t something to miss.” Otho smiled back lovingly and turned away. She helped him walk over to a computer and activated the portal, a sheet of pitch black spreading out in the air. Otho sat down in the middle of the room and glued his eyes shut. Emma stared at him as he did this, pure love vivid in her eyes.
As Xander was struggling to stay in some form of control in his body, he got a few words out. “What are you doing?” Emma turned to him lying on the ground, smiling. “Saving the world. We’re gonna free our Lord and release Him unto the world. Creation will be destroyed and remade in His image.” She said this cheerily.
Mimicking her partner, she sat down next to Otho, placing her head on his shoulder. Xander’s mind churned at a hundred miles a minute. They were trying to bring something from the black and white here. No one knew a lot about it, even PEIP, but there’s nothing good in there. At this point, Earth was already fucked, there’s nothing they could do to save it. Now, the only thing that mattered was stopping this. It wasn’t just the world that was at risk, it was everything. Xander held onto his desire to save reality and gained enough strength to speak.
“He’s dying, you know.” He spoke to Emma. She remained in her spot, seemingly ignoring him.
Xander continued. “He’s sick, he could die and then your hive doesn’t come. No more him. Do you understand that? No more holding hands, hugging, kissing.”
She seemed to start thinking and turned to look at Otho. Peeking inside his mind, she realized he was telling the truth. “Paul.” She said softly as she placed a hand on his cheek. Blue tinted blood dripped down his face as he sat entirely still. For the first time in a while, she felt selfish. The idea that he could die and no longer be with him made her heart ache. “You need to stop.”
His eyes shot open. “What?” He said shocked. “Why?”
She moved her other hand up and held his face. “We need to do this later. You could die and fail.”
Paul looked confused. “That’s exactly why I have to do it now . I have to make sure I don’t fail.”
“You have to heal first. You could fail.” She quietly added, “I could lose you.”
He shook his head free of her gentle touch. “I don’t matter, Em.” He said with a reassuring smile.
Blue stained tears filled her eyes. “You matter to me. Please, just stop.”
Paul tilted his head. Suddenly, his eyes became circles of pure blue and he fell on the floor, writhing. His voice filled Otho’s head. He felt angry. “Do not listen to her. There is too much risk you will die. Continue with the plan.” Otho so desperately wanted to obey his Lord’s commands but something in him wavered. A part of him wanted to listen to Emma. A part of him wanted to take the risk of being with her even if it meant not listening to Him.
At this moment, Paul remembers his apotheosis. How he felt split in two. Right now felt the exact same. The end echoes the beginning, it seems. Paul shakily got up on his feet and moved right in front of the portal as he did something rebellious. He thought. He couldn’t rely on anyone else choosing what he would do right now. The real answer laid in his own mind. Emma followed him anxiously and stood next to him.
Paul reached out and held Emma’s hands. As he did so, he didn’t notice Xander struggling with the gun in his hands. The pain let up around the time Otho fell over. He couldn't hold onto the hope that Otho would be convinced by Emma. “Em-” A gunshot interrupted what he was going to say next. Its deafening sound moved throughout the quiet room. They both stared in horror at the cyan spilling from a hole in Paul’s side. All of the strength left his body as he fell into the torn open seam in time and space. Emma was in too much of a shock to hold onto him, her body going deathly still.
An enraged yell spread throughout the heads of every infected person on the planet. Every instrument imaginable played a cacophony of anger. Emma’s own pained scream added to that sound. She glared at Xander with eyes full of agony as he felt his rational mind slip away. Soon enough, the fire echoed in his mind as well and it became all he was.
When he went through the portal, he started falling. Falling down and down and down in the darkness. He’s not quite sure for how long he fell, just that no end seemed to be in sight. Eventually, he landed, the air breaking his previously never-ending fall. He sat up, gazing impassively at his surroundings. Blue curtains were drawn, blocking the stage he was sitting on from the rest of the room.
“Well, well, well.” A deep, familiar voice drew his attention to a man slowly walking over to him, His hands held behind His back. Otho’s eyes grew wide in recognition and he started kneeling, averting his gaze from his Lord. “You failed.” The anger He felt was mimicked in Otho’s mind.
Tears started falling down his face. “I know. I’m sorry.” Pokey’s anger mingled with Otho’s individual fear. Otho knew that he rebelled. His Lord wouldn't like that.
Pokey squinted. “Yes, you are.” He moved up to Otho and placed a hand on his shoulder. Gently, He touched his chin and raised his head to look at Him. All the fear disappeared in a flash. When he looked at His face, all he could see was the magnificence. “My rage is beyond your comprehension. I am afraid that, this time, there will be punishment.”
Elegantly, He raised two of His fingers to Otho’s temple. Pain shot through his brain for a split second before weakening to a fuzzy numbness. Otho kept on staring at his perfect Lord, no desire to look anywhere else being even conceived. He removed His fingers and His glowing eyes stared at them. Otho’s matching eyes followed.
Flickering above them was a bright pink flame. It cast no light and Pokey held no pleasure in His eyes as He regarded it. “ This was the problem, it seems.” Pokey shoved said fingers up to His open mouth and closed it. When he pulled them away, there was nothing there, gone as if it never existed. He looked back to His prophet. “Do you feel better now?”
His mind suddenly felt lighter, all remnants of conflict gone. Otho nodded even though he didn’t fully feel better. It felt like something was missing now but he didn’t know what. “What was that?” He quietly asked.
Pokey grinned. “You accidentally formed your own desire so I fixed it. It’s gone now.” Otho nodded. “What was the desire?” He asked purely to sate his curiosity; he had utterly no idea as to what it could’ve been.
He shrugged. “Oh, just the stupidest desire of all. Love.” The word spat out his mouth with pure contempt, sneering as he said it. “Love for someone besides me.” Otho looked aghast. That idea was preposterous. How could he love one other than his Lord? He laughed, the concept funny to him.
“Yes,” He laughed as well, causing Otho to stop so he could hear Him. “It is ridiculous. A simple human of all things caused your faith in me to waver.” Otho was left completely dumbfounded. What human could he love more than Him? Now he knew there was nothing important missing and the name Emma meant less than nothing to him.